To Capture Mr Darcy
by elizabethann.west.7
Summary: Nature's a fickle thing. When four days of rain occur earlier in Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice to trap Elizabeth and Jane at Netherfield Park, new romances, misunderstandings, and alignments are made. Volatile tempers never did well cooped up together.
1. Chapter 1

Elizabeth Bennet slipped into the library at Netherfield Park for her sixth time in three days. Her sister Jane on the mend, she could not cease her curiosity for the chessboard. As soon as Jane fell asleep, she left her sister's sickbed to check the progress she was making with her unknown opponent.

Beneath the expansive double set of windows looking out on the south side of the property sat the rosewood carved chess set. Elizabeth spied the board on her first afternoon in the grandest estate in all of Hertfordshire. She had not meant to start a game, with anyone, but resisting the urge to move a single white pawn proved to be too much of a temptation. Returning a few hours later to replace the novel she had finished sitting by Jane's side as her sister lay violent with fever, Elizabeth stood stunned to see someone had responded in kind. Black's corresponding pawn rested two squares away from the starting line to face hers. Soon Elizabeth found herself eager to return to the library every few hours to continue her clandestine game.

The board stood deep in the throes of a true battle with black's knight decimating her numbers. The most clever Bennet daughter carefully read the positions of her pieces and considered her options. Her mysterious opponent was of the aggressive sort, but not too blinded by the taking of just any piece. She had offered up both a pawn and a knight and the opponent did not fall distracted by the easy kill. Therefore, the only way to beat him or her was to lay a trap of the wickedest kind; Elizabeth would sacrifice her queen in four moves.

Smiling to herself, she made her move and a calling voice from outside the library made her hastily select another novel. Perhaps a servant was looking for her and Jane had not slept long? Either way, her bishop sat ready to take the opponent's offending knight and she would have to wait to see the next move her anonymous enemy made.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Derbyshire frowned when he spied Elizabeth Bennet leaning over his chess game with Bingley. She had not noticed him sitting solitarily in the far corner with his book and brandy. A master of years' worth of ducking the attentions of Miss Bingley granted him an ability to turn into proverbial wallpaper when he willed it so. A swirl of the amber liquid kept him occupied as he sat astounded that the woman would dare to move the pieces of a game she was not a party to!

He had meant to say something, but too quickly she moved a piece and then scurried out of the library, leaving him once more to his own company. Groaning, he finished his drink and supposed he could set the board back to the last position. One gift he held included memorizing even the slightest glimpse of a picture. Darcy felt confident he could move back the piece she dared to upset, but when he reached the board, he paused. She had not moved a piece randomly, she had made a very cunning move forcing him to choose between sacrificing his knight or his rook!

A knot of understanding twisted tighter in his gut. That he was already in very grave danger of more than a passing fancy of this dark-haired, bright-eyed creature was a foregone conclusion, but now he was in the thralls of a very thrilling chess match with a worthy opponent. And the worthy opponent was none other than that dark-haired, bright-eyed creature named Elizabeth Bennet.

"Mr. Darcy! There you are!" Caroline Bingley entered the library and swiftly attached herself to his arm. "Oh bother, are you and Charles again playing that silly chess game? Upon my honor, I don't see the point in moving little wooden pieces to simulate a battle. Besides, you always win, according to him."

Darcy cleared his throat and carefully studied the board. It was a fool's trap, he did not mistake the gambit. If he sacrificed his rook this early in the game, he would be limited in defensive maneuvers later to protect his king. But his knight was paramount to his plan of attack to put her in checkmate. Her, the concept felt foreign though surprisingly pleasing to him. Could his future include many delightful afternoons at Pemberley in a challenge of wits?

"On the contrary, Miss Bingley, this match I may very well not win."

"Shall we reset it and you can teach me the particulars?" Caroline Bingley batted her eyes most fetchingly and began to reach for the pieces to take them off the board, but Darcy quickly grabbed her hand.

"No!"

Hastily he released her hand as he realized she took more meaning in his visceral reaction than he meant, and the look of pleasure on her face made his stomach wish to remove itself of its contents. He swallowed before making an insincere offer. "It is such a lovely day, perhaps we should take a stroll?"

Caroline made the unmistakable sound of a squeal and promised to ready herself presently. Darcy nodded and agreed to await her just outside, finding himself in desperate need of fresh air. Once Caroline left, he moved his knight to a more advantageous spot and exited the library and the house itself. The rook would be a shame to lose, but one cannot win a war without casualties.

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A/N I started my writing life IN fanfiction communities, and I am so happy to return! This story will be a rewrite of the 12 days in November in the original Pride&Prejudice. I am on deadline, so I will be posting chapters every day. I love any and all feedback, encouragement, or gripes. XOXOXOX EAW


	2. Chapter 2

No sooner had the main door closed behind him and Mr. Darcy weighed the merits of continuing the game with Miss Elizabeth than the bewitching creature herself appeared, apparently planning her own solitary constitutional.

"Mr. Darcy," she greeted him and curtseyed ever so slightly before beginning to walk away from him.

"Miss Elizabeth, you plan to walk?" He cursed himself for such a stupid question as the lady turned around with her lips pursed in perfect amusement.

"It would appear so, Mr. Darcy. And yourself?"

"Miss Bingley is to join me," he said flatly.

"I wish you both a happy afternoon." She nodded again and began to walk away, smiling to herself. Yes, let the two most disagreeable people in the household enjoy one another's company, such a match suited her just fine.

"Perhaps you will join us?" Darcy again called out, making Elizabeth stop in her tracks.

"Yoohoo, Mr. Darcy!" Caroline appeared, donning her gloves, a full bonnet, and parasol. She waved to Mr. Darcy as if she were unable to traverse the stone steps leading out of the home without his assistance. Darcy clenched his jaw and dashed up the steps with Miss Elizabeth watching.

"Miss Bingley, I am sure you will equal me in my happiness that Miss Elizabeth has consented to join us on our ramble through the gardens."

"I said no-"

"But Miss Eliza has already taken a walk this morning. I should dearly hope another walk and without proper cover will not turn her coarse and so very brown." Miss Bingley frowned in what she hoped appeared to be friendly worry, but instead she only managed to change Elizabeth Bennet's mind about joining their party of two.

"Fear not on my behalf, Miss Bingley, there are none to complain if I should not follow London's latest fashions to perfection. I am quite content in my own skin." Elizabeth flashed the woman a smile as Mr. Darcy escorted Miss Bingley to the edge of the drive where Elizabeth had been poised to take off in the direction of wilder grounds instead of the manicured gardens.

Elizabeth ignored the titterings of Caroline Bingley trying desperately to engage Mr. Darcy in a discussion of the grounds of his estate at Pemberley. But for Mr. Darcy to speak, Caroline would have to pause in her effusions of the exalted gardens for at least a moment or else he would need to resort to an interruption. Wishing to engage Miss Elizabeth in a conversation, that's exactly what he did.

"And the gardens to the east of Pemberley are on third thought my true favorite-"

"Miss Elizabeth, do you prefer to walk in tended gardens or are you more inclined to enjoy Nature's raw offerings?"

Elizabeth thought carefully before answering as Miss Bingley huffed that a question was not offered to her. "I believe if I told you I preferred tended gardens you would guess correctly I spoke a bold faced lie. But I do confess I am a great admirer of the stunning blooms Nature has to offer, in either circumstance."

"And what flower is your favorite, Miss Eliza?" Caroline practically spat the question.

"A rose. I am sorry to disappoint you with such a common one."

"Miss Elizabeth, I do not believe commonality to be a denigrating mark but rather a unifying one, don't you?" Mr. Darcy challenged the dismissal of her own tastes.

Elizabeth cocked her head to one side as she found it curious that once again Mr. Darcy addressed her directly. They came to a small manufactured water feature with a footbridge not large enough to admit three, so Elizabeth forged ahead so that the other two might follow her. Once on the other side of the water feature, narrower than the many brooks Elizabeth jumped in her daily walks about the countryside, she waited politely for them to cross.

"Are you to mean that roses are your favorite flower as well, Mr. Darcy?" Elizabeth could not help her curiosity of the great man who said so very little, but when he did, his opinions had a tendency to offend. That he could hold an opinion not at odds with her own was a novelty, indeed.

"As a matter of fact they are." Mr. Darcy paused as he held the hand of Miss Bingley who pretended to have difficulty in making the small step from the bridge to the path. "There is no more striking beauty in my mind than a wild rose in the brambles of a secluded forest."

Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy locked eyes for a moment, and the intensity of his gaze made her catch her breath. Was he jesting with her? Poking fun at her preference for wilderness over manicured lawns and shrubbery?

She shook her head and broke the connection, making a point to ask Miss Bingley about the plans for the dinner meal. Miss Bingley happily began a treatise on the four courses planned and Elizabeth made sure not to look in the direction of Mr. Darcy again.

Once the party finished their short tour of the barren gardens and reached the front of the house, Elizabeth begged their pardon that she must see to her sister. She curtsied and hurried up the stone stairs, unsure about the way her stomach lurched when she thought about Mr. Darcy.

"My, she practically ran up those steps. These country misses must be so burdened with the demands of life, one could hardly call them genteel." Miss Bingley raised her nose slightly in the air as she and Mr. Darcy began a more dignified stroll up the stairs, her arm nearly glued to his as it had remained the entire walk.

"I find the lack of artifice and manipulation rather refreshing." Mr. Darcy's slight did not appear to bother Miss Bingley as he bowed and took his leave of her. Either she was magnificently stupid or did not care about his sentiments and wished to win him regardless. He reasoned it was likely the later.

Planning to go directly to the stables and take a strong ride about the countryside to clear his head, Darcy could not help but make a short detour to the library. Striding confidently to the chessboard, his mouth widened in a rare smile as he noticed she took his rook. Switching his knight for another of her pawns, he found himself eagerly anticipating returning from his ride. Even if it was only to spy her next move.

Darcy considered inviting Bingley away from the estate business keeping him holed up in his study, but he doubted the man would leave the house with his current precious angel still ill above stairs. No, Darcy would take a solitary ride and enjoy any such distraction the exercise might offer though he expected very little relief from his present fixation on Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

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A/N: Aiming to put up 5 scenes today. :) I love love LOVE writing scenes of Caroline vs Elizabeth. :) Can't wait to hear reviews. :)

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	3. Chapter 3

The dining table of Netherfield Park glowed in exquisite candlelight. An abundance of fresh rose displays filled the table widths between candelabras and the air with the musky sweetness of the flowers' bouquet. Place settings rested near each chair as if twelve people would indeed partake of the four-course meal when only six diners sat on one end.

Elizabeth Bennet chewed her roast duck thoughtfully as across the table Miss Bingley yapped incessantly to poor Mr. Darcy while the gentleman did nothing but stare in her direction. Such staring made Elizabeth uncomfortable, and she began to lose confidence in her impeccable table manners as she suspected he glared to find something wrong.

"You say that your sister is very nearly well and plans to join us this evening?" Mr. Bingley eagerly engaged Elizabeth sitting to his right.

"Indeed," Elizabeth paused to stab a candied carrot and held the bite in mid-air before continuing to answer, "she has sworn me to assist her and wishes to thank you and Miss Bingley for the generous hospitality you have offered us both." Greedily, she devoured the carrot in hopes of discouraging further inquiries into her sister.

"We are the lucky ones, aren't we Caroline, to enjoy such fine visitors to our home!" Bingley beamed with pride, a young man's exuberance over his first home and impromptu house party.

"Charles, I don't think Miss Bennet and Miss Eliza would revel in visiting under such circumstances." Caroline shuddered, drawing attention to her lower neckline that Elizabeth swore stuck out with greater prominence once she had finished shimmying. As Caroline gave a sidelong glance at Mr. Darcy to see if he noticed, which he had not as he was still watching Elizabeth most intently, she scowled. The play acting was nearly too much for Elizabeth and she hastily ate another bite of food to keep from giggling at the dinner table.

Mr. Bingley's face faded to a frown. Dinner continued and by the third course, Elizabeth began to pity Mr. Darcy. Feeling bold, she decided to attract Caroline's barbs her way. Miss Bingley was no match for Elizabeth's patience, as the London woman's manners and behavior lent her no credit in Elizabeth's book.

"Miss Bingley, I wish to thank you for ordering roses for my pleasure tonight. I did not know confessing my favorite bloom to you would inspire such changes to the decor. I am happy the hothouses at Netherfield are still under good management."

"Miss Eliza, you are not the only person present with an affection for roses. As you said yourself, it is a common favorite, and just so happens to be my favorite flower, also." Caroline beamed at Darcy, who coughed.

"But I thought you loved orchids. We had to order so many specifically at your request when we arrived . . ." Charles began to say until his sister glared at him with the fury of a thousand angry hornets.

"Everyone knows orchids are in fashion, but my true love has always been roses." Caroline looked again at Mr. Darcy on her right, who continued to stare straight ahead.

"Hrmph, when's the next course?" Mr. Hurst grumbled.

"Dear, the fowl just arrived, but the parsnips should be just as you prefer them." Louisa Hurst placated her husband and took another sip of her wine. Her husband belched and squirmed, forcing Elizabeth to look down quickly at her plate again, or she would lose her placid expression to a fit of laughter.

Dinner continued with more scraping of plates and silverware tinging, as conversation swirled around her, Elizabeth imagined a melody of dinner-time symphony, brought to an audience by hundreds of patrons merely eating their supper. When Mrs. Hurst placed a gentle hand on Elizabeth's arm, she looked up trying to hide her confusion.

"I beg your pardon," she frantically looked to find who had spoken to her. Mr. Darcy wiped his mouth with his napkin.

"I asked if you travel very often, Miss Elizabeth?" Mr. Darcy's eyes were soft and genuine as he focused only on her.

Elizabeth Bennet wrinkled up her nose and smiled, intrigued to see a small smile creep on the taciturn Mr. Darcy's face. "I'm afraid not. My sister and I often go to London to visit our aunt and uncle. But I confess my father is not very keen on travel you see, so that is the extent of my knowledge of our country."

"But you would desire to see more?" he asked, bringing Elizabeth's gaze to his own, his husky voice making the simple inquiry sound so much more personal than usual to her ears.

"Ye-yes, I would dearly love to travel and see more of the world I have only read about in books." Elizabeth blushed slightly and hastily reached for her glass of wine, wishing so dearly she was not alone with these mere acquaintances.

"Tell us about your aunt and uncle, dear Miss Eliza? Is this the barrister and his wife or the ones in trade?" Caroline asked sweetly while her brother Charles dropped his fork with a clatter at his sister's impertinence.

"Caroline!"

"No, 'tis quite alright Mr. Bingley, I am not ashamed of my relations. My aunt and uncle Gardiner reside in Cheapside and my uncle is an importer of fine luxury goods."

"A lucrative and risky business these days thanks to the puffed up egos on the Continent," Mr. Hurst added.

Elizabeth nodded and began to feel peppered from all sides. In the battle of the dinner table, she sat surrounded by foes with not a friend in sight. Until a deep baritone voice again joined the fray.

"For myself, I find men and women with roots in a trade always to have the most sense. My father and Bingley's father were good friends as my estate's wool fed his weavers. I abhor the airs and arts of snobbery." Mr. Darcy raised his wine glass in a minor toast to Elizabeth's relations, again making the poor woman blush.

So conflicted in her thoughts and feelings, Elizabeth looked down at her hands in her lap and wondered what to say. Meanwhile, a vegetable course arrived, and Miss Bingley started a new subject on balls and theaters they had all attended, save Elizabeth, in London during the last Season.

With a deep breath, Elizabeth continued to eat her meal and by the time the last course arrived, she finally felt brave enough to glance up at Mr. Darcy with a face full of gratitude.

To Fitzwilliam Darcy, the vista of Miss Elizabeth's bright eyes and wine-kissed lips in a half-smile directed at him intensified in the romantic glow of the dwindling tapers. The sight arrested his heart so violently; the pain nearly made him react. Was this the throes of passion the poets talked of when they spoke of pangs and strains of one's heartstrings?

Not trusting himself, he quickly looked down to inspect the remnants of his meal and practiced taking metered breaths. Soon the sexes would separate and with any luck, he would clear his head of the beautiful and charming woman sitting across from him. Frantically, he tried to devise a way to retire early, but finding none, resolved that he could keep his emotions under a good regulation for another hour. He had no choice in the matter.

A/N: Sigh. Swooning for Mr. Darcy is a hazard of the profession. :) Editing my writing and rereading chapters that have run through a few copyedits always makes me miss my husband at work. Who knew writing romantic stories was such great fuel for a healthy marriage? :) Working hard today so I can reward myself tonight with fencing and Episode 7 of Star Wars, being Mom, I didn't get to see it in theaters as my youngest is too little. But I can't wait for tonight! :) Any of you excited it's available to buy digitally? right, next scene, I'm on it like a Jane Austen bonnet!


	4. Chapter 4

Later that evening, after they all joined for an hour's visit in the parlor, Jane's energy began to wane. Elizabeth helped her sister back upstairs, but as they reached the hall, she felt another tug on her conscience.

"Do you mind terribly waiting right here? I shan't be but a moment, I need a new novel to read." Elizabeth asked her elder sister earnestly. Jane laughed at Elizabeth's insatiable love of books and agreed to wait while she dashed into the library so long as she would be quick.

The library had a few candles burning in their holders, and it appeared the servants had set up a tray of cigars and brandy for the gentleman before they retired for the evening. Elizabeth tiptoed to the large, darkened window, watching her eery reflection grow smaller and smaller as she neared the small table and the chessboard.

Black's move played perfectly into her hands, and she could see where in three moves, she would be mated. Thankfully, her plan mated her opponent in two. With another fleeting thrill of wickedness, she moved her queen to her final space, hoping to wake in the morning to one final move and her triumph. The timing would be perfect as she and Jane planned to leave on the morrow. Something about Mr. Bingley's friend unnerved Elizabeth, and she decided the sooner they were out of one another's company the better.

Twirling around on the spot, she managed to keep her joy under good regulation and slowly opened the library doors to hear her sister speaking to a man in the hall.

"Yes, it was lovely to have your company this evening, Jane. I am dreadfully sorry you were taken so ill. Perhaps in the morning you might consent to a stroll around the gardens if your health allows it?"

"Yes, Mr. Bingley, I believe I shall muster the strength for a short walk,"

"Please," Elizabeth spied Mr. Bingley bowing over Jane's hand, "call me Charles. All of my friends do."

Elizabeth heard her sister giggle and took that as a cue to enter the hallway as conspicuously as she could. She should have narrowed her eyes at Charles Bingley for taking such liberties with her sister, but in truth, Elizabeth was overjoyed!

"And after our walk, hopefully, Mama will have sent the carriage if I write her as soon as we wake."

"Lizzie!" Jane admonished, "we do not have to rush home tomorrow. Mr. Bingley was just telling me how much he would like for us to stay at least one more day."

Elizabeth frowned. Staying one more day did not work for her plans, nor did she desire to endure the rude company of the Bingley sisters or the quixotic behavior of Mr. Darcy. But Jane stood there with her eyes so full of hope, denying her extra time with her amiable Mr. Bingley seemed cruel and unnecessary.

"Oh very well, you've convinced me. I am sure after your walk tomorrow, you will find yourself in need of a healthy rest and too weak to travel home, what was I thinking?" Elizabeth tucked her lower lip under her top lip to keep her laugh at bay, but Mr. Bingley laughed out loud at her faux manipulations.

"Remind me to never enter a game of wits with you, Miss Elizabeth."

For a moment, all appeared perfect. The three of them enjoyed the brief, unspoken loyalty to a plan of keeping the Bennets as houseguests, at least, one day longer when the parlor door slid open and Caroline poked her head out the door.

"Charles, where- oh, I thought you had both retired to bed. I did not know we were holding tete-a-tetes in the hall . . ."

Bingley didn't take his eyes of Jane as he answered his sister. "Forgive me, sister, I did not mean to hold up the card game. I was just wishing Miss Bennet and her sister a good night." Charles took the extra opportunity to bow once more over Jane's hand, as Elizabeth nudged Jane away towards the stairs at the front of the home.

"Good night again, Mr. Bingley, Miss Bingley. Pleasant evening to you both," Elizabeth called out in a hollow voice as she ushered her starstruck sister Jane above stairs.

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A/N, one more scene for today, then back to work adding more words to the story! :) Thank you so much already for the warm welcome with a review on Chapter 2 Pauline! :) KISSES to you! Even though I do publish my stories through the various publishing platforms out there, all authors really care about, or at least THIS author, is connecting with people over stories. And if anyone wants a free review copy of my already published stories, just send me a message here or through my website. My job is about writing stories and pleasing readers, first and foremost. :) Right, back to the salt mines! :) Stay tuned for chapter 5.


	5. Chapter 5

As the two made it to Jane's bedroom and flopped on the bed, Lizzie couldn't help but giggle as Jane stared serenely at the ceiling above them.

"Well if he's not wholly in love with you, then I'm pickled."

"Stop it, Lizzie, he is a good man. I don't know what to think."

"Of course, you do, he's going to take you for your walk and gaze deeply into your eyes and then he's going to ask you to marry him and we'll all be saved and I'll never have to wed!"

Jane rolled over to face her sister properly and frowned. "You're too harsh on yourself, certainly you will marry. What of Mr. Bingley's friend, Mr. Darcy? I noticed he spoke to you a great deal this evening and watched you intently."

"Yes, discourse on what makes a proper lady accomplished, very flattering and flirtatious conversation. No, that man is cross, taciturn, and I do not care for how he stares at me constantly to find fault. It is unnerving." Elizabeth errantly began to pull the pins from her hair as they began to give her a dreadful headache. Her mind flittered to the few times where Mr. Darcy's kind side had appeared, both on the walk and at dinner, but her good sense forced them away. The man may not be as bad as the first night he insulted her at the assembly, but neither was he a man she could esteem.

"I'm not so sure; Mr. Bingley asked me a few questions tonight about your thoughts on him. I told him how you were insulted at the assembly by his comments."

"You did not! Oh, Jane! I wish you had not shared such a mortifying experience with Mr. Bingley!" Dramatically, Elizabeth covered her face with her arm like a heroine in a novel, overacting her embarrassment in an attempt to hide that she truly was embarrassed by her sister's admission.

Jane rose and pulled a clean shift from her trunk. She gazed at her sister thoughtfully before speaking. Knowing she should not have spoken of such matters with Charles, but found herself so peaceful, so comfortable around him that her tongue could speak no lies and certainly no artifice. "I apologize; it was not meanly done."

Elizabeth huffed and threw her arms up and forward to propel herself off the bed. "I know, you do not do anything with a mean spirit, I just do not want Mr. Darcy to think I'm heartsick over the ordeal, waiting for an apology."

Jane tilted her head to one side, still holding the shift in one hand. "Charles won't tell him."

Elizabeth laughed. "Get enough drink in any men, and they cackle like hens."

Elizabeth pecked her sister on the cheek and wished her a good night, running her fingers through her loosened hair to shake it free one last time. Making a face at her sister as she opened the door and backed out of the room, she quickly shut the door when her posterior ran directly into someone in the hall.

She turned around to find herself much too close to none other than Mr. Darcy!

"Oh, heavens! I'm terribly sorry." She tried to move to the right, but so did he, and they bumped again. Both adjusted to the left for the same result. Finally, Mr. Darcy's strong hands gripped her upper arms with pure masculine confidence and shifted her to his left, her right, while he moved decidedly in the opposite direction. After he released her, Elizabeth's upper arms still tingled as if his warm hands still touched. Mr. Darcy bowed low.

"I believe the fault was equally mine. I beg your pardon and wish you a good evening, Miss Elizabeth."

Then he walked away, further down the hall to his suite of rooms in the other wing. Elizabeth stood there stunned that she had just accosted Mr. Darcy with her person, completely unintentionally, and he disappeared just as suddenly into the shadows. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the hall to her room and questioned her earlier agreement for one more day.

Down the hall, Fitzwilliam Darcy accepted the help of his man to undress and retire for the evening. He attempted to read a book by the fire but found his mind much too distracted. With a yawn, he laid on the bed with the comfort that in the morning, the Bennet sisters would be on their way home. Therefore, there was no harm if he allowed his mind to fixate on a pair of fine, bright eyes with silky chestnut hair flowing free and wild about her person. As he closed his eyes, his fingers twitched at the thought of touching such hair and the woman of his dreams shivering in delight.

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A/N and that is it for today, come back tomorrow for about 5,000 more words of Day 2. :) Please feel free to leave lots of reviews so when my nerves about posting more happen tomorrow, I will not be able to ignore that there are very REAL people I would let down if I give into my anxieties. A secret about writing is the fear of reception NEVER goes away. Every book I write, every story I tell, the mean voice in my head tells me everyone will hate it and abandon me. And no matter times that never happens, because readers are wonderful, I can't seem to persuade that disloyal part of my brain with facts and figures and probability charts! :) Hugs and kisses to all the Darcy addicted out there, I am your sister in arms! :)  
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	6. Chapter 6

Her fourth day at Netherfield Park dawned, and Elizabeth Bennet stretched and yawned. Feeling genuine longing to keep the tightly-roped bed and overstuffed mattress she had enjoyed in residence, she laughed out loud at the bright sunlight pouring into the lovely guest room. One brief stay at a large estate and she had become so snobbish in her delights! Her familiar bed at home performed more than adequately if not as luxurious as the offerings of Mr. Bingley's income provided.

A knock on the door startled Elizabeth, and she involuntarily snatched the sheets around herself.

"Yes?" she asked, unsure of who would be knocking on her door at this early hour.

"Miss?" A maid gently opened the door no more than a few inches and popped in her head. "Would you like assistance this morning?"

Elizabeth grinned and nodded, surprised that it had taken this long before the staff at Netherfield were instructed to help the Bennet sisters. At home, there was one maid to share with all four of her sisters and most days, Elizabeth Bennet was content to dress herself. Mesmerized by the hairstyle the maid pinned on her head - a style she would only deign to wear to a special event with a few pearl pins or flowers tucked - she smiled at the young woman. The young maid tried to hide her smile before quickly nodding a curtsy and leaving the room.

A grumble in her stomach twisted Elizabeth's lips into a most unflattering expression, and she decided to break her fast before her morning constitutional. She found the house eerily quiet but shrugged her shoulders at the still sleeping Londoners keeping town hours. She entered the breakfast parlor and carefully closed the door behind her, gasping that Mr. Darcy happily sat sipping coffee and reading the morning's paper. Mr. Darcy hastily stood up and nodded to her.

He cleared his throat. "Good morning, I trust you slept well, Miss Elizabeth?"

Reminded of her heavenly thoughts about the quality of bed she enjoyed, she smiled. To her surprise, Mr. Darcy smiled back at her!

"Yes, quite well. Thank you for concern, Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth blushed as she busied herself making a plate. Once finished, she faced a dilemma. She did not care to sit next to Mr. Darcy, nor did she wish to offend the man by sitting too far away. Sighing, she resigned herself to sitting across from him, one chair down, as a compromise.

For many long minutes, the two did not speak. Elizabeth enjoyed her meal and Mr. Darcy his paper. Kept in her thoughts, Elizabeth carefully planned her day. After breakfast, she would check on Jane and convince her that they might still walk with Mr. Bingley and take the carriage home that afternoon. November was wont to have a number of nasty weather days in a row, and it would not please Elizabeth one bit to be stuck at Netherfield for more days than she had already visited. Her thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Darcy laughing.

Quizzically, she arched an eyebrow at the man, surprised by his sudden deep baritone chuckles.

"Pardon me, Miss Elizabeth, I merely read an amusing tale and lost my composure."

"Oh, I'm afraid I cannot pardon you, sir. You must pay the penalty of sharing your joke. For I dearly love to laugh."

The sweet challenge from her lips inflamed Darcy's sensibilities and once more he felt the magnetic attraction to this beautiful and witty Bennet creature. She was not docile; she was not timid. Both qualities spoke to his own proclivities and represented a rare form of the female in his experience. "I should never suspend your pleasure, Miss Elizabeth. I laugh because my cousin, played a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with a lady, and I believe he is shocked to learn that it was he who was the mouse the whole time."

"That is amusing. But I do worry will your cousin suffer greatly for his mistake? Or is the lady in question an honorable one that will make him a good match?"

Darcy tilted his head to one side, surprised that a woman would worry about future felicity in a marriage beyond the capture. Perhaps she did not understand who his cousin was. "My cousin will be the future Earl of Matlock, and the lady a daughter of a wealthy baronet. I dare to say she will find the match amiable."

Elizabeth shook her head slowly but said nothing, returning to her meal. Darcy did not let her off the hook. "Please, I am most eager to know your opinions. Fear not offending me."

Elizabeth slowly chewed and then swallowed. Taking a moment to drink her chocolate, another luxury often available at home, but not every meal, she chose her words carefully. "A man has little to fear from a poorly made match as he may seek an escape from his wife. But a lady must be very careful in choosing a husband, for riches and wealth do not always make for a happy life."

"I wonder if your opinions are the work of true philosophy or merely a contradiction of your circumstances. You cannot say a young lady of a lower rank would not seize the chance at a title or wealth."

A flash of anger at his unfiltered honesty spurred Elizabeth's immediate response. "Nay, sir, they are the observations of a woman who has seen far too many a couple shuffle through life, miserable beyond measure, yet bonded in matrimony. For that reason, I shall only marry for true esteem or respect, or not at all." Elizabeth rose from the table, no longer finding herself hungry and scarcely curtsied before leaving the room.

A/N Please do not be mad, my other stories have been reviewed on places like Amazon as "No one does angst like this author!" :) I ALWAYS give our dear couple their happy for now or happily ever after. This book is a standalone, no plans for a series. So they WILL have an HEA. A super sweet one. But there will be fireworks along the way. Darcy will open mouth and insert foot. Elizabeth WILL assume the worst. :) But that's what makes it fun. I will post another bit right after this. Then I need some sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Marching with more gusto that her usual gait, Elizabeth's aggravation manifested in pent-up physical energy. The nerve of that man to be so mean about her circumstances! Why, he should not even have brought up the subject, with his nonsensical laughter. And what man takes pleasure in a cousin's folly?

With half a mind to stalk out the front doors of the home, she belayed that desire from a lack of proper shoes and attire. To act rashly now, she'd likely end up as sick as Jane. Remembering her sister, she took a few calming breaths and planned to follow through on checking on Jane when she spied the library door standing slightly ajar. A quick chess move might allow her to finish her game, should her opponent remain vigilant, before their opportune departure from this place.

She ducked into the library feeling a small amount of joy from her anticipated victory. Not disappointed, the moment stood perfectly as planned. The mysterious opponent had played right into her hands.

With a surge of power, she picked up her queen and placed her squarely in the sights of the rogue black knight. Considering the darker pieces were of a deeper rosewood, she supposed it ironic it would be a rose knight to take her queen. She replayed the conversation just moments ago with Mr. Darcy and couldn't help feeling amused at how her queen's sacrifice was much like the trap his poor cousin fell into with his lady.

A presence behind her compelled her to turn around. She stared into the doleful face of none other than that infuriating man who alternated in complimenting and insulting her person.

"Miss Elizabeth, I hoped to find you here. Please accept my sincerest and heartfelt apologies." The man bowed low, much lower than a simple greeting, and Elizabeth involuntarily rolled her eyes.

"I accept your apology, Mr. Darcy. Now, please excuse me while I find more reading material before tending to my sister." She began to walk away towards the sparsely populated shelves.

"Were you not making a move in our chess game?"

Elizabeth paused and hunched up her shoulders. Releasing the grimace on her face, she slowly turned back around to look carefully at the face of Mr. Darcy for signs of falsehood. There were none.

"Our chess game?"

"Indeed," Mr. Darcy made a dramatic readjustment of his coat and took a seat on black's side. He frowned as he looked at the board, then looked up at her, then back at the board.

Elizabeth, still shocked over the identity of her opponent, thankfully did not give the gambit away. Darcy stared again at the board, and for a moment he considered allowing her threatened queen to survive. Seeing her slowly take a seat at white's position, he reconsidered such a concession. If she saw that he could have taken her queen, and chose not to do so, she would be more offended than him taking her most powerful piece as a result of her blunder.

"It appears I must apologize once more . . ." he trailed off as his knight took her queen. He regretted he had sought to checkmate her so early, now that they were sitting down together in privacy, he found himself very content.

"No, Mr. Darcy, I believe I am the one to owe apologies. It was a trap, you see." Elizabeth Bennet picked up her white knight, with no blood on its hands, and took one of his pawns. "Checkmate."

Darcy's eyelids blinked fiercely as he looked again and again. She was right, no matter what move he made, his king remained in jeopardy and his queen could do nothing to parry the attack. Drumming his fingers along the edge of the table, he gave the brilliant gameplay of his Elizabeth one last, mind-searing examination. Perceiving her rising, he called out.

"It would be an honor to enjoy such a game every afternoon at Pemberley with a beauty such as yourself."

Elizabeth's mouth opened wide, but she closed it again. What kind of woman did he think her? Did he think a woman in her position would take just any offer, even that of a word she could not even bring herself to speak in her mind?

"Your off-handed and practiced cruel games are of no interest to me, Mr. Darcy. Good day to you, sir." Elizabeth did not curtsy before she picked up a random book from the shelf and quit the library. She cared not who looked as she ran up the elegant stairs, nearly knocking Mr. Bingley down when she reached the top.

"Good morning, Miss Elizabeth!" The ever affable Bingley put his manners to good use, but the tear-streaked face of Elizabeth Bennet passed him by. She scurried to her sister's room and closed the door behind her.

Jane slept peacefully in her bed, oblivious to the day's start. Elizabeth held her sobs at bay, racking her brain for some sign of Mr. Darcy's proposition to be false. But the man had made conspicuous observations as to her family's status, and he appeared to enjoy manipulating her emotions at every turn.

Wiping her eyes, she refused to cry for that man's cad-like behavior and instead walked over to the window where ominous clouds hung that were not there just one hour ago. Scowling at the vista before her of the rolling fields of Netherfield Park, the moody sky ripped a seam and poured showers of water on the surrounding area.

"Checkmate to me," she whispered before tiptoeing out of Jane's room and, after making sure the hall was clear, escaping to the relative safety of her own room.

Downstairs, Charles Bingley found his friend Fitzwilliam Darcy standing sentry at the large windows in the breakfast parlor.

"Er, morning, Darcy. You've not eaten?"

"Of course I have. I had planned to take an early ride when this broke." Darcy lifted one hand from where they were clasped behind his back, motioning towards the storm raging outside.

"Did you happen to speak with Miss Elizabeth?" Bingley tried to sound nonchalant as he loaded a plate with pastries and meats. "She was crying just now as I passed her on the stairs. You did not upset her did you?"

"Blast!"

Charles dropped his plate to the table audibly as Darcy shouted out. The master of the house nodded to the servant waiting to serve him coffee.

Darcy turned around and walked towards the table, gripping the back of a chair with two hands. "We were playing the chess game I told you about . . ."

"And you beat her. Well, to play a game, there must be a winner and a loser." Bingley reasoned as he raised his cup.

"You are mistaken; she bested me!"

Charles sputtered his coffee so that it dribbled down his chin while the cup was still raised to his lips. He hastily put the cup down and dabbed his wet person with a serviette. "You lost? She won over you? Well, well, well, look how the mighty have fallen!"

"It's not about the game, Charles. I made a fool of myself and revealed my affections for her, and she spurned them. A more missish, coquettish bird I have never encountered!"

"Er, about that . . . I did inquire gently from her sister about Miss Elizabeth's thoughts on you. As you requested . . ."

"The two of them likely planned this, from the start! Beware Charles, I'm beginning to observe these Bennet girls are much flirtation and little substance." Darcy scowled and stomped the chair in frustration.

The doors to the breakfast parlor opened again even as the hour now neared noon though, without any sign of the sun, the day appeared held captive in time by the rain. Louisa Hurst and Caroline Bingley entered the room giggling and carrying on their own conversation. When Miss Bingley spied Mr. Darcy, she stopped her inappropriate laughter and stood up a tad straighter. Instantly, she transformed from a genial sister to putting on the unaffected airs she thought a lady of high society should display.

"Mr. Darcy, how lovely to break our fasts together! With you retiring so early last night, it's a wonder that you too would be rising so late."

"I've already enjoyed my morning meal, madam." Darcy bowed and took his leave of the room, leaving Bingley to deal with his sisters. His pique over the expression on Elizabeth's face, when he voiced a future of them together, raised his blood pressure even higher. The pure disdain and repulsion he read in her features pushed him over the edge as his mind began to torment him.

He had ended up in the library, his room of last resort, mostly on habit. But the physical location only served to mock him further. With a great visceral growl, his eyes fell to the chess game, standing just as it was left, with his checkmated king. His hand scattered the pieces to the floor, and he leaned forward against the window, his forehead pressed upon the cool glass. Huffing rapidly until a great fog obscured his view entirely, Fitzwilliam Darcy accepted the fact he stood as a rejected man, and the pain felt far worse that what could be called a passing fancy.

A/N And now they're trapped. :) I love writing JAFF because it lets me remember the oh so sweet highs and lows of first love. :) Remember when you had your first crush and every little thing was either a sign he/she liked you or he/she didn't like you? :) Me too. And that's my favorite part of writing sweet, Regency romances. Thank you so much for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I realized in my haste I made a mistake and did not put two scenes together like I had planned. So Chapter 7 is now Chapter 7 + what was short Chapter 8 yesterday. This is the new Chapter 8. When I finalize edits for publication, chapters will actually be days, so like the first 5 chapters here will be 1 Chapter in the book. I am doing smaller snipets here so I can keep up with the pace and keep everyone happy. :)

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At Longbourn, the ancestral home of Elizabeth and Jane Bennet, Mrs. Bennet breached her husband's study with a broad smile on her face.

"Mr. Bennet, Mr. Bennet! Have you seen the weather? We are saved I tell you."

Mr. Bennet, a man in his late forties and father of five daughters but no sons, did not look up at his wife as he continued to scratch the letter on his desk. He disliked the task of correspondence very much and felt cross that his Lizzie temporarily resided five miles away at Netherfield Park, even if it was in the service of caring for her elder sister. For years, his second eldest daughter had shown great wit and interest in the affairs of the estate and become somewhat of a secretary for him. As his arthritis stung with each carefully crafted word, his irritation grew that Elizabeth was not present to fulfill this duty for him.

"However do you reason that, my dear?" he asked tersely, not wishing to humor his wife, but also knew the woman would not leave until satisfied.

Mrs. Bennet happily hurried over to the window wiping her hands on her apron. "It's raining buckets outside, even if it should stop raining tomorrow; there is no hope of the carriage making it through the mud and muck for at least two days."

"I still fail to see how a little fall of rain and muddy roads plays into your logic."

Mrs. Bennet squinted her eyes at her husband and pursed her lips in consternation that the man could be so dense. "This means our sweet Jane will spend even longer at Netherfield Park and I am certain Mr. Bingley will fall madly in love with her if he is not already!"

Mr. Bennet put down his quill and leaned back in his chair. A bubbling sense of mirth flooded his senses, but he stifled his laughs. "Your means of marrying off our daughters baffle me to no end. But, despite today's poor weather, I am expecting a visitor to arrive in two days' time."

"A visitor? In this weather?"

Mr. Bennet shuffled papers around on his desk to retrieve a letter from the bottom of the pile. He held it up and pretended to read over it for a refreshing of the salient details, but it was not necessary. His feud with his cousin Collins stretched back decades, and now that his cousin had died of natural causes, being somewhat older than Mr. Bennet himself, his son and heir apparent of Longbourn intended to stay a fortnight.

As Mr. Bennet related these details to his wife, he was not spared her normal theatrics of nerves and palpitations over his unavoidable demise and therefore loss of the estate due to an entail that followed only the male line.

"I still see not why he should visit here. Shall I also allow him to inspect the silver and count the plates?"

"I do not believe we owe Mr. Collins an inventory of the home quite yet as I feel both hearty and hale. However, my most intriguing cousin does come with the intention of marrying one of our daughters I suspect, and I leave that matter in your capable hands, madam."

Mrs. Bennet's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no, not Jane! Why she's practically engaged to Mr. Bingley."

"Yes, and we shall not trade a prospective man of wealth like Mr. Bingley for a cousin of known inheritance, for that simply would not be prudent." Mr. Bennet said in his normal sardonic tone, completely missed by his wife of more than one score.

"Certainly not! He is what, a parson? What if you outlive him? See? What then? Shall one of our daughters be a lowly parson's wife while some other obscure male relation inherit this home and all the contents?"

Mr. Bennet rubbed his temples as his wife spun more and more hypotheticals. When she reached fever pitch about being thrown into the hedgerows, he held his hand up to signal he had endured enough.

"We shall see which one of the other girls he shows interest towards and meanwhile," Mrs. Bennet snatched the letter from her husband's desk to review it herself for any information of Mr. Collins' tastes and preferences. "I shall direct Hill to freshen the guest room."

Mr. Bennet waved his hand and returned back to his odious task of correspondence while his wife fluttered out of the room. He stared at the torrential downpour falling nearly in solid sheets of water outside the window. A fleeting thought of sympathy for his poor cousin to travel in such a gale crossed his mind. Then he remembered the bombastic tone and gross assumptions the man had made in his letter about the Bennet family and Mr. Bennet returned to his usual nature of finding amusement in the most ridiculous of persons, until he remembered he had to continue writing letters, and then he cursed the rain under his breath.

A/N Don't worry, we are BACK to Netherfield in the next chapter. Heaps and heaps of gratitude and love for all of the reviews. I read every single one! And it is fuelling me to keep writing, and editing, and writing and working. XOXOXOX


	9. Chapter 9

The gloomy afternoon in the drawing-room at Netherfield Park dampened the spirits of most of the inhabitants. Elizabeth Bennet sat in one chair, doing her best to concentrate on the novel in her hands, but she, unfortunately, held no interest in it. Still, she suffered through the prose as it was the book she hastily retrieved earlier. Her sister, Jane, rested comfortably snuggled in blankets near the fire, with the undivided attention of Mr. Bingley bringing forth her soft tinkling laughter at regular intervals. Elizabeth was not close enough to hear what they were speaking. She tried to muster happiness for her sister. Instead, her attitude remained flat observing Mr. Darcy standing stoically at the window out of the corner of her eye.

"My Louisa, is not this weather simply unbearable? And so inconvenient, why you and I planned to call on the Longs this afternoon."

Elizabeth wondered if Caroline Bingley ever exhausted her energy in actively ignoring the Bennet sisters. She had never encountered such brashly rude behavior in a woman to regularly exclude the company around her in conversation. Miss Bingley had completed finishing school according to her boasts, but the opinion of Elizabeth Bennet asserted she must have ended her tenure before the education completed.

"Indeed, such horrible weather makes one feel as if they might go absolutely mad." Louisa Hurst looked up with an air superiority from her knitting. "And being cramped in one's quarters can make even the most pleasing company grating to one's continence."

Elizabeth slammed her book shut startling both of the sisters and attracting the attention of Mr. Darcy. With the three of them looking expectantly at her, she offered a plastered smile. "Forgive me, I find this book not to my liking. I shall find another." She rose from the chair where she sat and walked confidently to the door with her shoulders back. The waiting footman hastily opened the exit and Elizabeth offered the young man a nod in gratitude.

Tension between her temples began to ease as her fingers traced the spines along one line of volumes. Considering between Don Quixote, a title she reasoned would allow her to read Cervantes' ridiculous parables and replace the names with her present company, or rereading an older Gothic romance, she felt in no hurry to abandon her solitude. When Elizabeth turned around and realized the room was entirely empty save the warm fire in the grate, she put the Gothic romance back on the shelf. She and the Cervantes hastened over to the most comfortable chair she could find. As a guest in the home, surely no one would have a problem with her reading in a room such as a library. After all, were not these comforts specifically here for persons interested in reading?

Within half an hour, the library door admitted one other, but Elizabeth sat so engrossed for the errant knight's ridiculous quest, she did not disrupt her reading. Mr. Darcy selected a title from the sparse shelves and took the seat across from Elizabeth, on the other side of the fireplace. This movement so close to her person did finally interrupt her concentration but still cross with the man for reasons even she was not entirely sure of, Elizabeth said not a word.

The storm continued its fury outdoors; a stalemated silence raged inside. The clock on the mantle provided a metronome cadence that Elizabeth found herself echoing in her mind as she read each word, but failed to translate its meaning. Instead, her mind raced with every odd thought she had ever held about the mysterious man from Derbyshire who appeared not to care for the sensibilities of others around him so long as it pleased his wishes. Even at this very moment, he displayed his disdain for others by entering the room without even so much as greeting her! Between his insults, flatteries, and proud behavior on other evenings that she observed, she could not find herself agreeing with Jane. Where her sister saw only the good in people, Elizabeth Bennet was less inclined to hold such optimism. Mr. Bingley's friend was haughty and snobbish and no matter how much it might please Mr. Bingley and Jane, Elizabeth Bennet held no interest in even remaining acquaintances with the man.

No sooner had she made such a profound internal decision that she happened to look up from her book at the same time as the man in question and their gazes caught the other's. Still no words passed, but the man's eyes displayed a depth of feeling Elizabeth Bennet had never witnessed before. Captivated by his expression, her heart ached involuntarily for the man truly looked to be in pain, yet she knew not why. As guilt washed over her earlier imprudent behavior, a small sigh escaped her lips. No matter how ugly or rude Mr. Darcy or Miss Bingley behaved, it was no excuse for her behavior. She would apologize to the man.

"I wish to apologize for storming out of the library earlier. If you intended your words to pay a compliment, I was ungrateful in the extreme. And if you meant to insult me, it still leaves me no credit to return such sentiments with an insult of my own."

Darcy blinked. Then his eyebrows began to knit together. He wanted nothing more than to clean his ears with his fingers because surely he could not have heard her correctly. How on earth could his stupidly rash confession of affection for her be interpreted as an insult? His mind failed in working out the logic of such a situation so he came to the conclusion that this must be yet another game of arts and allurement by Miss Elizabeth. For his part, he was rather tired of playing games.

"I fail to see how my words might have insulted –"

"I assure you, sir, your insinuation was clear. A woman of my status as you so emphatically pointed out at breakfast could never hope for an honorable proposal from a man of your means. And I know of the fashions and fad of the London set. I may be a penniless gentleman's daughter, but I am still a gentleman's daughter." Elizabeth could not stop the passions of her anger returning to her heart and mind, and she closed her book and stood from her chair. She hugged the thick tome to her chest as if it might provide some magical defense against the agony of emotions she endured whenever she was near this stranger.

When Mr. Darcy could offer no apology in kind, or explanation, Elizabeth nodded and pursed her lips. She turned on her heel and made for the door. The only safe place for her was her bedroom until dinner.

Darcy gaped at the fiery passion in Elizabeth's face as she defended her position. Had she honestly thought he intended to offer her a position other than his wife? And how had a woman of her background come to know of such things? His mind reeled with the possibilities until she began to take her leave.

"Elizabeth, please do not go." He called softly, saddened that calling her by her Christian name only hunched her shoulders as she continued to walk away.

Fitzwilliam Darcy felt despondent once more at her rejection. If one owned an instrument to suck all of the joy out of the air, it was Elizabeth Bennet when she was cross with him. Darcy noticed the chess board was once more restored. Surprised at himself, his shaky hand moved black's pawn two rows forward to start another game. And as he planned to spend the rest of the afternoon in the library's solitary comforts, his heart dared to hope the chess board might beckon her downstairs once more.

A/N Don't worry, don't worry. Our dear couple has much, much more puppy love and misunderstandings to go through. :) But I do love a rollicking good literary ride! :) I figure if I'm having fun with is, someone else out there will, too. :) And some of your reviews did already impact the story. I made Darcy agree with you that his outburst was really stupid, but well, the chess game inflamed his passions more than in the original, and there we have it. :) He promises to be more taciturn and proud in the future.

Hugs and kisses and getting right back to working on it. Can't wait to read reactions!

BTW: IN REGENCY times the rules of chess were NOT codified of "white moves first." That was a later rule adopted universally in the late, late 19th century, early 20th century. Surviving rules from the late 1700s even specific BLACK moving first. But in general, the custom was people played their preferred color choice and alternated who went first every match. You can stop yelling at me in review that "white moves first." :) I, too, have played chess since I was 8 and was surprised as well when I did research to even make sure it was a popular game in Jane Austen's time. ;)


	10. Chapter 10

Another evening of uncomfortable dining partners set Elizabeth's nerves on edge. Between the slings and arrows tossed her way by Caroline Bingley and Mr. Darcy's stares, all punctuated by booms and crashes of thunder outside, Elizabeth's neck and shoulders ached from a permanently tightened position. The abundant roses resided in complete wilt making the candlelight appear sour. All in all, there remained little to interest her in the event.

The rain beat against the windows accompanied with a feral cry of the wind. The room felt chilled, though a roaring fire was just behind Elizabeth's chair and she should not feel so. She shivered and continued to attempt an appetite by eating her cold meat one small bite at a time.

"Miss Bingley," Darcy interrupted the shrew to his left who had taken to her normal custom of a one-sided conversation with the man of Derbyshire, "while I am sure your experiences at the _ Ball last spring were most rapturous, I beg your pardon." Darcy didn't take his eyes off the diminutive form of Elizabeth across from him. "Miss Elizabeth, are you quite alright? I noticed appeared chilled just now."

Elizabeth blushed that Mr. Darcy would be so bold as to admit he had been watching her. "I am not at ease, worried about Jane, you understand." She parried the personal inquiry.

Caroline Bingley sniffed and pressed her lips in a fine line. "I should dearly hope you are not becoming ill yourself, Miss Eliza, as you've been so dutiful in your sister's care, it would be a wretched manner of repayment."

"I am quite well, thank you, Miss Bingley."

"Blast, this weather be the dogs!" Mr. Bingley piped up to the admonishment of his sister. But Charles Bingley offered no apology. "I am only to mean that your poor sister might recover all the much sooner if the weather were of a drier nature."

"There is no evidence that one becomes more or less ill due to weather," Darcy said.

"Oh, I forget you are well read on every topic." Bingley motioned for his wine glass to be refilled as he drained it upon teasing Darcy.

Darcy cleared his throat, looking up from his plate to see Miss Elizabeth giving him her full attention. "I do not profess to be an expert in the medical arts, but all of the treatises I have found can find no justification for a person's illness as a result of the weather since others in the near vicinity are often well."

"So there you have it, if one is to become ill in bad weather, it is not a defect of Nature, but that of the person's nature." Caroline beamed as she tried to impress Mr. Darcy with her logic, only to receive abject gazes of horror from the rest of the table. "What? I do not mean poor Jane has any such defect. No, of course not, she is beyond all that is sweet and good —"

"Yes, my sister IS all that is sweet and good and I think we might look for a change of subject. Mr. Bingley, how long do you plan to let Netherfield Park? Are we to expect you and your family to remain through winter and into spring?" Elizabeth shut Caroline down and forced the conversation to focus on Charles.

"Er . . . That is, I had not fully thought out our plans. I should like to stay very much, but just as swiftly as I took this property, I am just as easily pleased should our plans change," Charles made eye-contact with Caroline as her face stretched and pulled expressions of incredulity. "Caroline, I believe, wishes us to return to London for Christmas," he finished flatly.

For her part, Miss Bingley offered Elizabeth a wan smile and fluttered her eyelashes. "Well, nothing is certain yet. What my brother won't tell you is that he is of a fickle nature when it comes to plans of any sort. He's the kind to agree to a picnic only to change his mind the day of to dining indoors and follow it with a horse ride. By the way, Miss Elizabeth, do you ride?"

Elizabeth offered Miss Bingley a wistful smile, relishing the joy bubbling up inside her once more that she would not offer this woman an ounce of satisfaction. "Not in this weather, I'm afraid."

Mr. Darcy laughed at the verbally sparring woman, the only person to do so, and swiftly covered his guffaw with a cough. "Forgive me, I merely found Miss Elizabeth's rejoinder rather comical."

"Humor is no substitute for wit."

"And neither is vulgarity." Elizabeth lifted her wine glass, thoroughly enjoying herself now that she might openly be rude to Caroline without her reinforcements of Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, who had elected to eat in their rooms.

"She has you there, Caro." Bingley loudly slurped the newly arrived soup course.

"I apologize, my tongue ran away with me." Elizabeth offered her adversary an apology as she did truly feel guilty for stooping so low. A familiar throbbing began in the front of her head and Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to leave dinner and plead a legitimate headache to escape further discussion.

Caroline said nothing and resumed eating. The dinner table descended to a heavy silence until another loud crash of thunder startled most of them at the table. Elizabeth dropped her fork, and hastily picked it back up to cover her faux pas.

No longer finding herself hungry in the slightest, Elizabeth appealed to Mr. Bingley's good nature. "I wonder if you might excuse me? I do so wish to check on my sister and find my appetite has left me."

"Of course, of course, please send our warmest wishes for Miss Bennet's speedy recovery."

Elizabeth nodded and awaited a footman's assistance to leave the table. She made certain to not make eye contact with Mr. Darcy before leaving the depressing dining room in case he rebuked her for the put down of Caroline. She owned no right to being so rude to her hostess, and with a background in trade, of course, Miss Bingley would stop at nothing for acceptance.

As Elizabeth climbed the stairs to see to her sister, she never questioned herself for caring so much about the opinion of Mr. Darcy.

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A/N Okay, I am snowed in and it's flipping APRIL! What the? Feeling a bit of the pent up energy myself as I write this story is hilarious. :) Anywho, did a bunch of editing this morning and will be working more this afternoon. Going to get this chapter and the next up here though. Hope you all enjoy it! :) Thank you so much for ALLLLL of the reviews, and to Tremu, when I read your review I had to laugh, in a good way! :) This book will have 13 chapters of 4-5 scenes each, we still have a loooong way to go for our couple to secure their HEA. :) And to Colleen, while I don't have any plans to bring Colonel Fitzwilliam into this story, I won't rule it out. But I don't think he will really fit, but we'll see.


	11. Chapter 11

The Bennet sisters enjoyed a late morning meal in the elder sister's room on the first unplanned morning of their Netherfield stay. Elizabeth managed to make her sister smile and laugh as she described in detail some of the encounters with the Bingley sisters that occurred while Jane had still been sick in bed earlier in the week.

Jane, the Bennet sister most interested in harmony between the Bingleys and the Bennets, found her laughter under better regulation faster than her younger sister. "You ascribe a great deal of jealousy and contempt on Miss Bingley's part. I wonder if you perhaps lay too much at her feet, Lizzie."

Elizabeth Bennet shook her head most enthusiastically. "She slants her eyes at me when she's truly vexed by the attentions Mr. Darcy gives to anyone but herself. I speak true that you must watch yourself around her, Jane. I do not get the impression that Mr. Bingley's sisters are as enamored with either of us as much as perhaps Mr. Bingley is." Elizabeth spread more jam on her biscuit with a wistful expression on her face.

Replacing her teacup to her breakfast tray, Jane looked at her younger sister thoughtfully. "You mean more than Mr. Bingley and his friend, Mr. Darcy."

Elizabeth's head shot up and glared at Jane as if she had just pronounced the sky should turn green. "I care not for Mr. Darcy's amorous pursuits, be they towards me or any other woman. I believe he is just as snobbish and prejudiced and prideful as Miss Bingley, but he has taken more of an effort to hide his true nature."

"I think you're being very hard on both of them."

Elizabeth shrugged and wiped crumbs from her mouth. "People are a fascinating study and it is my experience whomever they are in their most comfortable surroundings is their true self. That Mr. Darcy can muster politeness at a dining table or in company should have less weight on an estimation of his person than what he says carelessly or when he feels not observed."

Jane frowned and tenderly flipped her teaspoon over and over along the axis of its splendor spine. Elizabeth Bennet long held the title of the most stubborn sister and there was very little one could do to change her mind once it was set. Jane could only hope that with time perhaps her sister would give more estimation to Mr. Bingley's family and friends.

"I should hope you are not a victim of your own philosophy. It is very easy for one to utter words in a harmful way and not intend such harm with malice, but merely a result of a slip of tongue."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Jane taking on the mantle of eldest in her admonishment. "Then it is incumbent upon all to school their words."

Jane sighed. "But you must allow for mistakes."

"And I do! But I can hardly credit Miss Bingley or Mr. Darcy with an error rate so high that every other encounter with them I am insulted in the extreme and a few times, permitted myself to insult them back!"

Elizabeth's agitation signaled to Jane that she needed to change the subject. "Just promise me that while you are here, you will try to give them more forgiveness instead of censure?"

"Only if you promise we can go home the moment the roads are dry enough for a carriage."

Jane laughed. "And here I worried you would demand we walk!"

Elizabeth shook her head and helped herself to another biscuit on the basis of their lovely taste and not her hunger level. "No, no, I am quite content to take the carriage home. I prefer my rambles to be purposeless. There is no beauty in merely shuffling yourself from one destination to another."

"And if we are to have more days of rain? Your loss of walking won't affect you?" Jane knew her sister to dread being cooped up indoors.

Elizabeth weighed Jane's concern about her willingness to forgo walking home if she could not take her constitutional walks for more than one more day. It was true that two days of indoor activity stressed her nerves and three days was neigh on unbearable. Taking a deep breath, she made another oath she prayed would not come to pass. "I shall take the carriage with you no matter how many days we are trapped here by rain, but I shall take a walk at home just as soon as I am able."

Jane finished her tea and Elizabeth picked up a book of poems to read to her sister.

"Oh no, please do not begin to read. I wish to dress and go downstairs."

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at her sister. "Are you certain you are strong enough?"

Jane nodded most vigorously and Elizabeth set the tray aside to allow her sister to rise from her bed. Although she could call a maid, the sisters were at ease in helping one another to dress, so Elizabeth happily took on such a duty for her eldest sister. It was not perhaps as fine of a hairstyle as the parlors of London were accustomed to, but Elizabeth's nimble fingers managed to pin all of the Jane's curls into a fetching manner. Before they left, Elizabeth tucked the one stubborn curl of hers that refused to remain pinned behind her ear and brushed off any remaining crumbs on her skirts.

If Jane was willing to brave most of the day downstairs, then hope remained alive that as soon as the rain might stop, they could hurry home to perhaps not peace and tranquility, but at least the raucous environment they were familiar with.

A/N: And here we have a set down by Jane, or at least the most set down I think her character will do. :) And one more so I end the day on a D&E note . . . :) XOXOXO for the reads and reviews. Like seriously. My face has NEVER hurt this much from the positive support as I work on a story. Ever.


	12. Chapter 12

While the storm held less bluster on the second day of its rages, and hardly any rain fell, the previous days' drenching still made the roads utterly impassable. As Jane desired to spend as much time with Mr. Bingley as possible, Elizabeth found herself once again in the drawing-room with the three gentlemen of the house and the other two ladies. She continued to read her copy of _Don Quixote_ , finding herself genuinely pleased with the environment so long as she was not asked to participate in the conversations.

Mrs. Hurst and her sister appeared quite at ease discussing any and all subjects related to London and the fashions. With so many days in their company Elizabeth was quite confident she could list and describe the various gowns and accoutrements of London's top set alphabetically and by occasion if she were so pressed to do so. The thought of such an examination made her own natural optimism bubble over and a small laugh escaped her lips, catching the attention of Miss Bingley.

"My, my Miss Eliza, do share your joy."

"Forgive me, was merely a funny moment in my novel. I apologize for disturbing you."

"The afternoon has passed rather quietly. Perhaps you would play for us, Miss Bingley?" Mr. Darcy said looking up from his own novel that he had been reading in peace.

While Caroline did not actually blush, she looked down and back up again through her eyelashes as if she were embarrassed by such a request.

No sooner had Caroline begun playing that her brother invited the eldest Bennet sister for a dance. Elizabeth smiled seeing Jane and Mr. Bingley preparing to dance, a more perfect couple she could never claim to have seen. Her thoughts were interrupted when Mr. Darcy stood and blocked her view.

"Miss Elizabeth, may I humbly request your hand for this dance?"

Elizabeth looked up and found herself remarkably out of breath as a gentler set of eyes than she had ever seen in a man peered at her full of desire. Unwilling to upset the afternoon's politeness, she acquiesced to Mr. Darcy's request by holding out her hand and allowing him to assist her up from her chair. A dissonant note clanged out before Ms. Bingley recovered herself and continued the jovial reel that was still unfamiliar to Elizabeth's ears. Quickly she whispered to Mr. Darcy, "I'm afraid, sir, I'm not familiar with the steps of this dance." Jane appeared to be equally unaware in moving slightly behind Mr. Bingleys movements.

Mr. Darcy quickly leaned closer to Elizabeth's ear and whispered back "Fear not my lady, and I shall lead."

As Mr. Bingley clasped the upper forms of her sister Jane, Elizabeth soon found herself whisked away in the arms of Mr. Darcy, twirling and spinning around Mr. Bingley and his partner. The dance was a variation on a Scottish reel and Elizabeth could only best describe it as topsy-turvy in a teacup! Before too long, she and Jane were merrily laughing to the smiles of both gentlemen as they bumped and pardoned and continued the dance. Whether by accident or design, the tempo of the music increased and increased until the final movements were nothing less than a complete frenzy. The music abruptly came to an end and Elizabeth's face, bright and flushed from the exertion looked up to Mr. Darcy to admire the tinge of pink in his cheeks. Poor Jane fell into a coughing fit.

Elizabeth ceased her obligatory applause for the piano player and rushed to her sister's side, holding the opposite elbow of Mr. Bingley.

"Forgive me, forgive me, Miss Bennet, I was a fool to ask you to participate in such a lively dance." Mr. Bingley struggled with his guilt.

Jane managed to contradict him between coughs as both of them escorted her to the nearest chair. Elizabeth furtively looked about for assistance and felt surprised when it was Mr. Darcy handed her a glass of water for Jane. She quickly nodded and helped Jane take the glass as her lungs still struggled for air.

"Perhaps Miss Bennet is not as recovered as she thought and should retire above stairs? For her own health, of course." Miss Bingley offered in a singsong voice with slanted eyes.

While Elizabeth saw through Caroline's charade, Jane remained blissfully unaware. Or perhaps she did not, as Jane reached her hands out beyond her sister and asked Miss Bingley to help her upstairs. After such a direct request, Caroline certainly could not refuse, but Elizabeth's jaw dropped as her sister abandoned her in a room once more with the Hursts, Mr. Bingley, and Mr. Darcy!

Elizabeth looked at the remaining patrons of the room and quickly curtsied. "I beg your pardon, but I don't wish to burden Miss Bingley with my sister's care for the remainder of the afternoon. I hope you understand."

"Of course, we do dear. I hope she's well again soon." Louisa Hurst offered without even looking up from her knitting.

Frowning at yet another slight from a Bingley family member, Elizabeth scooped her hands to retrieve her thick novel and hastened above stairs.

A/N I want to dance with Mr. Darcy! :) Best fun ever was dancing at this year's JASNA AGM. If you have an English Country Dance organization by you, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out! :)


	13. Chapter 13

Darcy's throat tightened as Miss Elizabeth dashed out of the room. He had thought she enjoyed the dance as much as he had, so why was she so anxious to quit his company? Frustrated, he stormed over to the brandy to pour himself a glass. Mr. Bingley quickly joined his side to mimic his actions.

"I say, aside from Miss Bennet being unwell once again, what a jolly, good time! I'm even surprised Miss Elizabeth seemed to enjoy dancing with you, Darcy." Bingley knocked back a healthy portion of his liquor.

"That's rather offensive of you, Charles. Why ever should a woman of her background not enjoy a dance with me? There are scores of ladies in London who would enjoy nothing more than the same pleasure."

Bingley laughed at his friend's ego. Not many could fault Darcy, though, the man was worth over £20,000 a year and one of the largest landowners in the country. Still, sometimes his friend did not know his own limits of attraction. "I tried to explain to you yesterday, she overheard your remark at the first night's assembly calling her not tolerable enough to tempt anyone."

Frowning, Darcy's heart felt a sharp pain in his chest. His words said out of anger at Bingley's constant nagging that he pick a partner and dance echoed in his memories.

"Not handsome enough to tempt me. Those are the words I uttered."

Bingley finished his drink and slammed the glass back on the sideboard. His sister Caroline reentered the room and started a conversation with Louisa, who still sat on the other side. "Either way, you accuse Miss Elizabeth of flirtation and I'm afraid to say she has been trying to match your original disdain with her own."

"Thank you ever so much for this intelligence, though I do wish you might have made a greater effort to appraise me of it earlier in their visit. I owe her an apology." Darcy began to walk away but Charles called out for his friend to come back. Darcy obliged, expecting more intelligence of similar value.

Instead, with a hiss, Bingley explained Darcy could not apologize to Miss Elizabeth as it was a confidence that Jane gave him in the first place.

"You would undermine my trust with Miss Bennet, no Darcy, you must find another way to make Miss Elizabeth confess that she heard you and make your amends that way."

Just as the two men had finished their semi-private conversation, Darcy found Miss. Bingley suddenly very much attached to his left arm.

"Mr. Darcy, if you're still in the mood to dance, I have arranged with my sister for her to play for us." Darcy looked over and Louisa Hurst indeed sat at the pianoforte and was beginning the first strains of a reel. Involuntarily, Darcy groaned and Bingley laughed at him. Caroline pretended not to notice the reaction and instead escorted a very reluctant Mr. Darcy to the open space of the room for her own turn of dancing with the elusive man of Derbyshire. Halfhearted, Darcy completed the moves, but his mind was elsewhere.

After taking a full inventory of his exchanges with Miss Elizabeth Bennet the totality of her hatred towards him summed up to what appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle. How on earth was he to make amends and apologize to a woman he could not acknowledge offending in the first place? The problem would need strategy and stealth for a solution.

"Ooh!" Caroline stopped the dance and stood on one foot, her face crumpled in a pout.

Darcy also stopped and forgot his worrying about Elizabeth for a moment in response to his dance partner's pain. "Did you turn your ankle?"

"No," Caroline said meekly as Darcy helped to escort her to the nearby sofa, forcing her to hop in a most undignified manner. "You stepped on my foot!"

"I'm terribly sorry," Darcy bowed in apology but secretly thanked his bumbling feet for ending the set early.

Louisa stopped playing the piano and came to see to her sister, making Caroline even more agitated. "Louisa!"

"You are injured, you do not need me to play any longer, you only wanted to dance with Mr. Darcy." Louisa Hurst huffed as her condition made her more fatigued though her gowns scarcely showed the future joy expected to arrive in mid-summer.

Mr. Darcy looked at Charles who shrugged and the two sisters ignored one another.

"Charles," Darcy addressed his friend, "was there not some estate business on which you wished my opinion?"

"Estate business? No, I do not believe so."

"The spring plantings. You had mentioned yesterday that you wanted more explanation about Pemberley's plans." Darcy clasped his hands behind his back and glared at his friend.

"Why not discuss the matter here? I am certain I should find the knowledge of your excellent stewardship of your family's land most fascinating." Caroline Bingley attempted to encourage Mr. Darcy to join her on the sofa with a barely perceptible lay of her hand on the corner of the cushion next to her.

"Er— I am afraid the subject matter is quite dull. And you would not have the experience to see the benefits of rotation and soil restoration. Charles, might we return to your study?" Mr. Darcy's glare now became an icy stare. One even Charles recognized as a final warning.

"Oh, yes, how daft of me to forget not just the spring plantings, but also the contract for the butcher," Charles smirked as he led the way to his study, the last refuge for the men of the house. He always enjoyed the sport of watching Darcy squirm away from Caroline's advances. But he had to be more mindful to not push his own entertainment too far, he did not wish for Darcy to abandon him with his sisters and that idiot brother of his over Caroline's forwardness.

As the men escaped the drawing room, Caroline stood up and stomped out her frustrations in front of the window, frowning at the weather outdoors.

"This is patently unfair! The entire point of this house lease with Mr. Darcy instructing Charles was to give me more time with the man!" Caroline fumed and clenched her fists at her sides.

Louisa looped her yarn over her hook and continued to work the needles. "If it rains another week, mark my words we will have a double wedding by Christmas."

Caroline stopped her progress and considered her sister's words. "You truly think so? I don't approve of our brother marrying such a penniless bloom, but my match with Mr. Darcy will erase all of that. And we can make sure Jane cuts herself off from that family of hers once we get her to London."

Sighing, Louise flopped her knitting into her lap and looked at her sister with exasperation. "I am warning you that it will be a ceremony of Bennet brides. Not Bingley."

Caroline scowled as she realized Louisa was pointing out that Mr. Darcy preferred Miss Elizabeth's company to her own, a fact that had never escaped her own notice. Her mind raced on how she might combat Nature's inconvenience to her own profit. And soon, a plan unraveled in her thoughts that was fairly simple. Every time Mr. Darcy enjoyed Miss Eliza, Caroline would find a way to best her. It was the only way to prove, once and for all, that she was the best match for a man of his stature.

"Do not underestimate me, sister. For I have a plan."

A/N: See, told ya there would be some more obstacles for Darcy and Elizabeth. Even if they can get out of their own way, there's still others with an interest in seeing them NOT. And we haven't even introduced Mr. Collins yet, and we all know who HE thinks Mr. Darcy is marrying . . . oh yes, the plot hasn't even begun to simmer yet. ;) I promise my readers thrilling rides with my stories, and that is what I aim to deliver. So seat belts fastened, if you please. :) :)

Time to go write some more and get further ahead. I will be reading the reviews, so if you love it or hate it, just let me know. Ever review is like a turbo boost to the writer part of my brain. :)


	14. Chapter 14

Lack of interest in _Don Quixote_ for over two hours justified in Elizabeth's mind another trip to the library. She knew the estate had not magically spawned new titles for her to peruse, but something about the room still drew her to browse the shelves. Jane was more than on the mend, and her younger sister began to wonder perhaps the elder Bennet sister milked her illness for all its worth as an attempt to avoid Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst. But such malice was uncharacteristic of Jane though Elizabeth would gladly play the part of the invalid if it meant she might stay abed in such a lovely home as Netherfield.

After edging her way between the heavy doors, the room offered a warmness and smell of leather bindings, despite the meager offerings. Her heart beat wildly as she wondered if Mr. Darcy were present, hiding in a corner or some other dark shadows as was his habit. The innocent chess board remained directly in front of her, but the arrangement had captured her attention. Someone had moved a pawn.

Giddy elation bubbled up in her chest as she stepped forward to inspect the board. She took a deep breath and with a shaky hand reached out to move her queen's knight out from behind the defensive line of pawns to greet her adversary. A deep, baritone voice startled her.

"You agree to another game? Does this mean you have forgiven me?"

Elizabeth spun around and tucked her hands behind her back. Remembering she was not a wayward child caught in mischief, she pulled her hands back in front of her, but could not cease wringing them in worry. What might she say? She had not truly thought through all of the implications of starting another game, another stupid headstrong move that would cause her trouble!

"And what, sir, do you need to be forgiven for?"

Mr. Darcy took two decisive steps towards her but stopped before encroaching upon her personal space in an uncomfortable manner. "I've behaved poorly, unlike a gentleman in your regard. I confess that my words are not always chosen so carefully when I am angered or feeling strong emotions."

Elizabeth smiled. "Then I must anger you on all occasions."

"No, Miss Elizabeth, you do not anger me. Quite the opposite."

Shocked he would once more reveal so much when their acquaintance was of such a short duration, Elizabeth felt her body flush at the excitement of another compliment. Her heart sang his praises while her mind tried to recall he had insulted her at the assembly and many other times in this very house.

Mr. Darcy did not abide her silence well and felt compelled to do something to put the situation back in his favor. Clearing his throat, he walked away to retrieve two chairs from elsewhere in the library. Elizabeth stepped back away from the table to watch the great man take on the employment of a footman for her amusement.

Once finished, Mr. Darcy bowed low in her direction. "Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would you give me the pleasure of playing a game of chess?"

Elizabeth bit her lower lip and looked towards the library door which was decidedly closed and irrevocably placed her in danger of being considered compromised. Mr. Darcy followed her line of sight and nodded. Dutifully, he strolled over to the double doors and opened them wide, grunting as he moved the heavy potted ferns to keep them thus. Slightly perspiring, he dashed back over to Elizabeth with a rare smile on his face.

"I should wish you comfortable in my company, and I promise to think twice before I speak."

To signal her answer, she walked over to her chair and waited expectantly before Mr. Darcy caught the gist. His long legs nearly tripped him up as he tried to move quicker than what was reasonable, but he did manage to pull out her chair and push it back in once she sat down in White's position.

"Thank you, Mr. Darcy, for the invitation. My sister is resting, and I find chess and games of the mind to be a favorite activity."

"Do you— do you often play with your father?" Darcy made another move to respond to her knight's entrance.

Elizabeth nodded her head most vigorously. "Indeed," she frowned before moving a pawn to allow her bishop free movement. "If I were at home, my father and I would be in his study when the weather is such as it is today."

Darcy moved another pawn, daring her to take it with the piece she previously moved. "How old were you when you began to play?"

Elizabeth wasn't fooled. She moved another pawn only one space to take his pawn if he now took hers, the art of warfare relying on equal and opposite reactions. "I was eight."

"Nine." Darcy responded, answering his own question for himself, moving his black knight out from behind the front lines.

Elizabeth smiled at the cheeky familiar piece and moved her pawn up one space to the same level as his. "There is my old friend."

She anticipated Mr. Darcy taking her pawn as it sat perfectly located in the L-shaped distance from his knight's position. He swiftly took her piece, and she moved too quickly to take his knight with her own, brushing her hand against his as they tried to reach for the same space. The skin to skin contact sent a jolt of energy up her arm, paralyzing her movements at the same time arresting his own. Their hands still touching, she looked up at him and sighed. Mr. Darcy offered her such sad eyes; she could not help but smile at him in hopes of sending good cheer.

"Mr. Darcy!" Caroline Bingley entered the library, and her chirpy voice killed the moment of intimacy. Elizabeth snatched his knight and moved it to the side of the board, placing her offending hands in her lap. "There you are! I had looked everywhere for you; I should have realized you were in the library."

Mr. Darcy grimaced, staring at the chess board and refusing to acknowledge Miss Bingley's tasteless arrival. His senses inflamed by the slightest touch of the woman in front of him, his baser nature chafed at behaving in a civilized manner when Elizabeth triggered every natural masculine instinct in his possession.

"You're teaching Miss Elizabeth how to play?" she whined. "But it was I who requested your instruction first. Tut, tut, you have forgotten."

"Mr. Darcy is not teaching me to play chess, Miss Bingley. I already know how." Elizabeth flicked her eyes to Mr. Darcy as he moved his other knight out from the reserves. She caught a wink from him and felt more steady. He was not cross that she had breached propriety and allowed her hand to linger before. Decisively, she moved her queen to the far corner of the board.

"You cannot possibly know how, you've just moved that piece, there, diagonally, and Mr. Darcy moved his piece in that jumping motion."

"Your queen may move in all directions, but may not jump over pieces like a knight," Elizabeth explained.

Caroline looked at the pieces as Mr. Darcy moved another piece in yet another way entirely, feeling very confused that the different pieces apparently followed different rules. "And what is the point of this game?"

"Protect the king," Mr. Darcy said.

"Oh, so there is a king, he must be able to move anywhere."

Elizabeth laughed, taking another of Mr. Darcy's pieces. "Again, you are mistaken, the king may only move one space in any direction."

Mr. Darcy locked eye contact with his Elizabeth as the two continued a flurry of movements to Caroline's continued arguments about how silly the game must be to confer such freedom to a queen piece but not a king piece. Elizabeth broke away as she used her queen to take one of his bishops, and tried to explain to Miss Bingley that chess resembled a battlefield, with different units holding unique capabilities. She missed Mr. Darcy's next move as she defined the game as she would to a child.

"Checkmate."

The warm, viscous tone of Mr. Darcy's voice washed over Elizabeth, making her wish to hear the man's voice even more if she admitted it to herself. Offering him a half smile, she tapped her king piece, the tallest with a cross upon his head, and allowed him to fall over.

"Huzzah to Mr. Darcy. It would appear that Miss Eliza is not so very good at chess after all."

Mr. Darcy offered his hand across the board to the surprised Elizabeth just as he would a male opponent. After carefully considering her options, she extended her own and shook his hand, another taste of the delicious feeling she enjoyed when they came into contact.

"You are mistaken, Miss Bingley," Mr. Darcy said slowly to elongate the time his hand held Elizabeth's, "she bested me the first time we played." The handshake ended so as not to push the limits of Caroline's observations too far and Elizabeth returned her hands to a wringing motion under the table. How could a man's touch cause such a tingling sensation against her will?

Caroline huffed. "Well, I am quite accomplished at backgammon and wonder if you might like to play a game with me, Mr. Darcy. We can move to the drawing room where the lighting is much better, despite the wretched rain outside."

Darcy looked to Elizabeth before answering, but she waved him off.

"I should return to my sister and see to her comforts. Perhaps we might play another game before Jane and I leave."

Mr. Darcy rose from his chair as Elizabeth began returning the pieces to their proper starting positions. He bowed low over the table. "It was a pleasure and a privilege, Miss Elizabeth."

Elizabeth giggled as she spied Darcy's posture become rigid when Caroline looped her arm in his to leave the library. Breathing deeply through her nose, she cautioned herself that no matter what thrilling emotions that man made her feel, in fact, she knew very little of him. The strictures of a proper upbringing warred with her romantic heart fantasizing about being held in his arms and dare she even wish it, receiving a kiss!

The storm outside did not rage so harshly as the previous day, but the rain fell in a steady staccato symphony, and Elizabeth leaned her cheek against the cool window and closed her eyes. It was well and good to tease Jane for her sighs over Mr. Bingley. But to feel a similar state of charity towards a man was a new experience Elizabeth wished to keep utterly to herself. With any luck, Miss Bingley would continue to keep her and Mr. Darcy from enjoying too much time together, and that safeguard was one Lizzie Bennet appreciated.

*****  
A/N: A nice long scene for today! I took yesterday off for the most part because I needed it. One downside of working from home is you are, um, always at work! :) I definitely struggle with being able to relax when I know there is always so much MORE work and writing I could be doing. It's like being in a state of constant hyper-awareness. Not even my dreams are safe from plot bunnies! :) This morning I allowed a little plot bunny to run free for my warm up and dictated 800 words on a Cinderella twist on Darcy and Elizabeth. No idea if that story will ever see the light of day, but I didn't kill it. :) After A Love of Good Nature I will be writing Book 4 of the Moralities of Marriage and another 2 installments of Seasons.

Oh, and I have also figured out how I will incorporate into my work flow. Basically stories go here first, as raw as I'm willing for drafts to be (I do edit, but some typos can slip through, and some anachronisms). Then I will incorporate feedback from here into another draft that goes on my website with the countdown to publication so fans know when books will go out. Final chapters will not be posted publicly on here or my site until the book publishes to protect the work. I HATE that I have to do that, but it's the only way I can make a claim IF someone takes my work and tries to make it their own, and I know you all understand that. So please feel free to review. Your support and encouragement makes my fingers fly and anything you see, like Mrs. Hurst knitting (which I am keeping, it's from the 11th century and she has struggled with infertility and wants to knit her baby a blanket), and the timeline of her pregnancy (yep, made a note to make it early spring, but I will double check the writing too because I meant to say she was so early she was NOT showing) will get incorporated.

I will also be making a list of every screenname that reviews and you will get a special thank you in the published work. :) Why? Because I can and this place is AWESOME!

XOXOXOX


	15. Chapter 15

Dinner on the fifth day put Elizabeth Bennet more at ease than any previous night. With Jane fully participating in the meal, most of the attention fell not on her, but instead upon Jane. Gone were the impertinent questions Elizabeth endured. Both Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst appeared to be happy to engage in conversation with the sweet Jane.

Unfortunately, the addition of her sister had moved Elizabeth down the table, so that the two Bennet sisters flanked Mr. Hurst on Bingley's right, and Mr. Darcy sat in between the two Bingley sisters on Mr. Bingley's left. But not participating in the conversation suited Elizabeth just fine as she dedicated her attentions to the delicious dinner brought out in no less than five courses.

"Mr. Darcy, have you shared with Miss Eliza my triumph this afternoon in backgammon?" Caroline preened in her superior position at the table, closest to the head chair, with her knife and fork poised in her hand to cut another piece of meat pie.

"This afternoon I suffered a defeat at the hands of Miss Bingley." Mr. Darcy addressed his confession in Elizabeth's direction, the corners of his mouth twitching as he held back a smile.

"How utterly dreadful for you, sir. I do hope your joy from besting me in chess carried you through such a trial." Elizabeth Bennet thoroughly enjoyed the double meaning to her conversation with Mr. Darcy. Miss Bingley was too stupid to realize that the great man did not enjoy her company, far be it from Elizabeth's duty to explain such social skills to her.

Caroline fumed. "Miss Bennet, are there any parlor games that you enjoy?" Caroline batted her eyelashes at Jane Bennet sitting across from her, an attempt to stop any conversational tête-à-tête between Mr. Darcy and that upstart sister.

"I'm afraid I am not much for games though I do enjoy playing cards."

"Cards are my favorite as well. After dinner, we shall have to play a game of loo." Charles Bingley promised, furthering conversation with Jane to ask her what her favorite card games were.

Conversation about card games continued with Caroline interjecting far too frequently into what might as well be a private conversation between Mr. Bingley and Jane. Elizabeth had settled once more in her reduced role at the dining room table when Mr. Darcy took a momentary silence to strike up another conversation with her.

"Miss Elizabeth, are you a fan of cards?"

Elizabeth wrinkled up her nose and frowned. "I'm afraid my taste for cards does not lie with the popular games of the day. I rather abhor gambling of any sort and I find that precludes my participation at most card tables when my Aunt Phillips hosts such nights in Meryton."

Darcy nodded firmly in understanding. "I've had the misfortune of watching too many men gamble away their entire livelihood at the gaming tables in London. I find your preferences to be both refreshing and a great deal safer than the ways in which many ladies live in town."

"But how could you say such things? Why you have gone out with Charles on many occasion to Brooks and Boodles to play your luck as Charles puts it. I was under the impression you enjoyed games of skill and chance." Caroline looked back and forth between her brother and Mr. Darcy in confusion. Both men's expressions paled at such a rude subject matter discussion at the dinner table. Mr. Darcy uncomfortably cleared his throat and neither man appeared willing to address the issue.

Elizabeth took pity on Mr. Darcy's discomfort and attracted Caroline's Barb's towards herself. "It is my understanding that many a location of less than desirable repute is also the place of great business and negotiation. Or so my father says as it's one of the only consequences he laments of not going to town unless he must." Elizabeth felt the burn of embarrassment at having to once again educated her hostess in the realities of the world. Miss Bingley might have accomplished many skills at the school she lauded too many times in Elizabeth's short visit at Netherfield Park, but the woman lacked any life experience a family of generations of being a lady provided.

"I am confident my voice might prove to be worse than a cat's howl, but perhaps after dinner we might enjoy music?" Jane asked a question loudly to redirect the conversation, but it was most applied to Mr. Bingley. For Jane's benefit, Mr. Bingley was in no mind to deny Miss Bennet any of her whims or desires while under his roof.

"A fine idea! I believe Caroline has been working on a very intricate piece for the pianoforte, haven't you, sister?" Mr. Bingley emphasized the last word of his question.

Caroline Bingley blanched and scowled at her brother. If she had embarrassed him earlier, Charles Bingley, as the youngest of the Bingley clan, was not above revenge of the cruelest kind.

"It is not ready, Charles. You know I have only worked on the sheet music since we've arrived."

"If Miss Bennet is willing to sing so shortly after a sore throat, surely your nimble fingers can play the best that they may offer. Our guests have requested music."

Elizabeth Bennet choked on her wine to observe Caroline Bingley finally being put into her place. With Jane downstairs, Elizabeth was no longer outnumbered and did not feel a need to rise to every provocation the Bingley sisters hurled. She did note that Mr. Bingley was indeed of a fickle constitution in his decisions, having just wished to play cards and now fully in favor of music.

"Do not worry," Louisa leaned forward to talk around Mr. Darcy. "We shall play a duet."

"Lud! Do I hear a challenge coming on? Miss Elizabeth, do you play the piano forte as well? Will you be accompanying Miss Bennet?" Charles Bingley, ever a man of competition, goaded the younger Bennet sister in attendance.

Elizabeth looked at Mr. Darcy's face and gone was the sadness in his eyes from the afternoon. She wanted to play with Jane and show off what little accomplishment she had managed at her own instruction at Longbourn. Sitting ever so slightly higher in her chair, Elizabeth leaned forward to display her gumption for Mr. Bingley to see.

"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Bingley, to join my sister in song."

Mr. Hurst grumbled something about eating slowly for the sake of one's constitution, but with the gauntlet thrown in a duel of the duets, the rest of the table sparsely spent more time than necessary on each remaining course. The men briefly separated before joining the women in the music room after dinner.

A/N: Boy, snow on Monday at my house and a storm today that killed the power and the Internet for a spell! Spring in upstate New York is quite temperamental! Someone had asked if I thought of renaming the story? Right now I have no plans as it plays into the last scene of the book, but this story was originally called The Rose Knight. I am curious what titles would be proposed? :)

Sadly, I AM now pretty much caught up with my raw document, so there are 2 scenes after this now edited for Fanfiction but I am going to keep working on them and post 4 of them tomorrow. More or less a "chapter" in the book is 4-5 scenes, or chapters here. In the book it will be a chapter = 1 day in the story. Gotta get dictating! Great news is while I was doing the dishes, the next few scenes concreted in my mind. :)

Thanks again for all the reviews and well-wishes. XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West


	16. Chapter 16

The third day of rain . . .

Elizabeth woke in a bed quickly becoming too familiar. Full of half hope and half agony that a dry morning would greet her, she rolled out of the mattress on a clear mission to the drapes. The sky remained a stubborn gray and light rain fell; only observable from the small ripples each drop made in the puddles on the path below. Two days of heavy soaking followed by the current day's refusal of dryness meant, at least, another full day at Mr. Bingley's estate.

Remembering the previous evening's musical concerts brought a smile to her face as she stretched and yawned. The gentlemen had applauded both sets of sisters as they had both taken to the instrument three times, but it was Mr. Darcy's admiration that she had sought more than any other. And in this cause, Elizabeth felt light in her heart that she was finally making an impression on the man to his improvement.

Apparently no longer worth a maid's assistance, Elizabeth did not tarry in her toilette, removing her hair from a braid and washing her face. At least the water in her basin was fresh, even if cold, so someone had come into her room in the early morning hours.

Elizabeth sighed at her paltry selection of gowns available. Thankfully, her mother had sent a trunk for both her and Jane on their second day at the grand estate, but it was clear to Elizabeth her mother took greater care with her elder sister's trunk than with her own. Two of the gowns were beyond ready to be passed along to their maid at home as the hems were two inches too short and Elizabeth could not possibly wear them in polite company. Her only remaining frock for the day was a drab, brown calico that Elizabeth did not even possess a ribbon to enhance. Laughing at her own vanity, Elizabeth pulled the disappointing gown out of her trunk and smoothed the wrinkles as best as she could. Attired to the fullest extent of abilities for the day, Elizabeth exited her lavishly decorated guest room to see how Jane fared on their sixth day away from home.

Two raps went unanswered. Elizabeth cautiously creaked open the door to see if Jane were indisposed. Spying only an empty room, Elizabeth's curiosity carried her activity through a slight peeking and into opening the door widely to step inside.

"Jane?"

The pristinely made bed left little doubt that none were under the covers. Elizabeth opened the small adjoining dressing room only to be met with more emptiness. Jane must be feeling remarkably well to have already dressed and joined the larger party downstairs.

Just as Elizabeth was about to leave, she spied the books she had been reading to Jane sitting on a nightstand. With Jane feeling well, there would be no need for Elizabeth to read to her and trips to the library appeared to always hold such grand adventure. Elizabeth lifted the stack of books and revealed a folded letter underneath them. Not recognizing the piece of parchment as her own, she picked up the missive and flipped it open with a twitch of her fingers.

 _Dearest Jane,_

 _I am sorry your stay in my home has only extended through suffering the most vicious cold, but your continued presence provides a balm to my aching soul. I pepper your sister with constant inquiries as to your health, for it is your bright smile that I see over and over again in my mind. I cannot wait patiently for your recovery and return to our happy talks…_

Elizabeth's eyes flicked to the bottom of the letter to see it signed my none other than Mr. Bingley! Gasping, Elizabeth refolded the letter, placed it back on the table and tried to stack the books in the same manner in which they were when she first came into the room. The little green book on top fell and she bent over to pick it up, bumping her head against the table.

"Yeow!" she exclaimed, then covered her mouth and stood absolutely still lest anyone hear she was in her sister's room alone. When no one came, Elizabeth moved more carefully to right the book stack and rubbed her head until the sting of clumsiness subsided. The evidence of her chaste sister, Jane, flouting propriety by accepting a letter from Mr. Bingley confused her. Had Jane somehow found private time with Mr. Bingley in a similar manner as Elizabeth had found with Mr. Darcy? Were the two gentlemen working in concert to woo and seduce a pair of sisters so circumstantially within their clutches?

Elizabeth frowned. She wished she could call for their father, but sending such a message to Longbourn would be an acknowledgment of inappropriate behavior. And sadly, Elizabeth was not entirely confident her father would see a problem.

Mr. Bingley's affection for her sister had appeared genuine when they first met at the assembly. Yet girlhood warnings about the nature of gentlemen and the responsibilities of young ladies involuntarily echoed in her mind. Elizabeth Bennet worried for not only her safety but now also that of her sisters. It was of vital importance that as soon as the weather let up, they remove themselves at once and any continued courting occurred within the expected constraints of accepted society.

As Elizabeth stepped out of Jane's room to find her sister elsewhere in the house, she now thanked her good fortune to have such a dull gown to diminish attention to her person. Let Miss Bingley's flashy silk gowns of London and Paris attract Mr. Darcy's eye, and let the two of them return home in peace.

*****

A/N Please do not be angry I did not write the dual of the duets. :) It was never planned because coming up is 2 other battles that will be written out and further the story. I am a very streamlined writer in that scenes must further the plot or they are cut! :) As a show of goodwill, I am posting 3 scenes now and I will be 100% caught up to what I'm writing now. You're going to love it. Promise.

XOXOXOXO  
Elizabeth Ann West


	17. Chapter 17

Afternoon tea at Longbourn carried on in a dull, gray manner as the poor weather outdoors heavily affected the moods of the inhabitants indoors. Unable to escape for an errand or some other business, the only convenient time in which Mr. Bennet performed as an interested party in an estate he could not bequeath to his heirs, the entire Bennet family, save the eldest two sisters daughters, engaged in a rare gathering. Kitty Bennet, the second to youngest daughter, enjoyed a childish game of subtle poking her young sister, Lydia, with the points of their sharp elbows. Despite the absence of Jane and Elizabeth, the Bennets sat at their regularly prescribed chairs with no interest in upsetting tradition for such a silly reason as altered circumstances.

The middle daughter, Mary, sighed as she slowly watched the swirls of milk dissipate into her teacup.

"Must you sigh so loudly, Mary? My nerves can handle no more on this day." Mrs. Bennet worried incessantly about her own comforts above those around her.

"And whatever vexes you today, my dear? Has the unscheduled rain ruined your most careful social plans? I rather thought you were cheerful and encouraging that the rain go on for a week or more if it means your daughter be stuck at Netherfield." Mr. Bennet's acidic tone derived as a direct result of the continued loss of his favorite. To be holed up in a house with four women as the torrential storms beat the structure outside was nigh on impossible under most circumstances but absolutely impossible without even so much as the comfort of his favorite daughter to play chess and hold lively discussions in his study.

Where his wife favored the sweet and docile Jane, Thomas Bennet cajoled and catered to the wild fiery nature of his Elizabeth. The proud papa found absolute delight in her contrary nature and had on more than one occasion fostered her disagreements with her mother for sport.

"I am not vexed by the continued rain, but by the impolite manners of your kin. Your cousin is now two days' late for his arrival. All of my plans for dinners have had to be rearranged and reconsidered and it is a gross insult to this household."

"But Mama, surely if Lizzie and Jane cannot come home, our cousin, Mr. Collins, must be delayed in his travels as well. We must pray for safer weather."

"I still do not see why his delay should be my inconvenience. He might send a note, a messenger, that we were to expect him on one day and that he will not be fulfilling such an arrival and further direction as to when we might expect him." Mrs. Bennet continued her unreasonable expectations for a poor vicar to have the means of private messengers or funds to send an express. Her stubby middle finger and thumb pecked indifferently at the crumbs remaining on her plate from the piece of shortbread she had devoured.

"Perhaps he is gravely ill, come down with a fever from trying to valiantly traverse the dangerous London roads in this weather." Lydia's fanciful imagination offered a scenario best fit for a novelization.

"Or perhaps he was absconded by bandits. Those Highwaymen and gypsies that the papers talk about. I bet the next note we get will be a demand for ransom!" Kitty met her younger sister's imagination with the trumping of her own.

"I find both of those suppositions to be entire without reason. And it is an abuse of our spirits to even utter such nonsense for fear the Almighty may confuse it for prayers," Mary scolded.

"But he could be kidnapped by bandits, it's possible. I didn't wish ill of the man." Kitty chafed at the small taste of Mary sermonizing.

"I'm afraid you're assigning a great deal of interest and intrigue to my cousin who is most likely dull and boring if his letters are any indication as to his nature. He has come into a living of sorts at the behest of a great lady, but I should hardly think his purse be heavy enough to entice the notice of gypsies and bandits." Mr. Bennet settled the brewing disagreement between his daughters to head off any squabbling before it began. A father of five, preemption was worth more than a hundred pounds of cure.

"Illness or bandits, he is still very rude to not send word in his absence." Mrs. Bennet reminded the table at the entire conversation began with her complaint.

"And I am certain, when Mr. Collins does arrive, by grace of the clouds, he shall effuse an abundance of charm that will more than makeup for his tardiness. Now if you ladies will excuse me, I have some business to attend to." Mr. Bennet lifted up his teacup and left for his study. As he expected, continued discussion about Mr. Collins reignited the disagreement between Mary and her younger two sisters and no sooner had Thomas Bennet stepped out of the dining room and into his study that a great squawking of female voices filled the air. Leaving the girls to their mother, Mr. Bennet picked up the volume of Chaucer he had been reading before and continued where he left off.

****  
A/N So I have thought about the title, and I am now considering Pride & Prejudice & Pawns, a Darcy and Elizabeth Variation. Thoughts? Too literal? The chess game does not play so much in the later half of the book, but I am think it still could as a metaphor for the other players coming into the story. And someone else asked if I am a D&E shipper? Um, YES! Darcy and Elizabeth always end up engaged or together in all of my stories, even in my series they are at least declared to one another by the end of Book 1. Now . . .the next scene? I laughed out loud when I was editing. I hope you do too.

XOXOXOX  
Elizabeth Ann West


	18. Chapter 18

The familiar drawing room of Netherfield Park appeared starkly different upon first entrance. The creams and greens of the furniture were banished mostly to the far wall and a number of tables were aligned with extravagant candelabras offering a romantic glow. Elizabeth furrowed her brows as she spotted Mr. Bingley and her sister Jane engaged in a private conversation by the fireplace when Miss Bingley linked her arm inside Elizabeth's, startling her as the woman began to pull Elizabeth in the opposite direction.

"Miss Eliza, you are just in time. I have convinced Mr. Darcy to sit as our subject and wondered if you would join me for an afternoon of sketching."

Caroline Bingley led Elizabeth to an elaborate set up of two canvases with an array of charcoal pencils and watercolors between them. Mr. Darcy indeed lounged in the armchair just beyond the canvases with a copy of Don Quixote in his hands. Elizabeth smirked at the gentleman's cheeky movement to blink twice at her before turning a page of the thick tome.

"I'm afraid that drawing has never been one of my favorite hobbies and my efforts at capturing Mr. Darcy's likeness will be laughable in the extreme."

Caroline laughed and patted Elizabeth are in a matronizing fashion. "We are all friends here, you need not worry about the quality of your creation. Think of it as an afternoon folly, at the impolite request of your hostess."

"Miss Bingley, I do not offer false humility when I say I cannot draw well. It is a skill I have little aptitude for."

Caroline sighed with a slightly spitting end of full exasperation. "There are no professional portraitists in the room, my own drawing skills are of a rudimentary sort only honed by my time at school. I assure you, it has been many a year since I have thought to capture a landscape or still life in my free time. But as nature has limited our opportunities for diversion, I implore you to indulge me in this little activity of ours."

"And what say you, Mr. Darcy?"

"Hmm?" Darcy continued to appear very focused in his book.

Elizabeth pinned her free hand to her hip as she just knew the man was toying with them both. "Are you not the least bit nervous for two ladies to sketch your likeness for an afternoon, to sit in one attitude should be frightfully boring." Elizabeth attempted to enlist Mr. Darcy as an ally in removing her obligation to humor Ms. Bingley.

"Not at all. I should have enjoyed this afternoon reading this novel and see very little intrusion on my plans by offering you and Miss Bingley my stoic posture for your own amusement."

"Even Atlas would find holding such a book for over an hour a taxing endeavor," Elizabeth observed.

Caroline Bingley handed Elizabeth a perfectly sharpened pencil and chastised her for stalling. "Then we should get to work. Since your skills are below mine, I shall start by demonstrating the proper technique to capture your subject's outline." Caroline began a squiggly line with questionable proportions to start a profile of Mr. Darcy's forehead, nose, and lips. As Elizabeth watched Caroline's work, she could not help spending less time inspecting Ms. Bingley's outline and more time considering the sultry and handsome features of their subject matter. Caroline continued to speak about the varied steps and techniques she had learned from Masters in London and at school, Elizabeth said little as she concentrated her efforts producing the best Mr. Darcy she could in a two-dimensional form.

Elizabeth focused her efforts so deeply on the small nuances of Mr. Darcy's face, a loud tinkling of Jane's laughter served as the only reminder that Elizabeth was not alone in the room with Mr. Darcy, but in fact part of a group of five. As she considered the eyes of her canvas and gazed up for a better estimation of Mr. Darcy's actual features, the man's gaze locked with her own. If they had been able to discuss the entire ordeal of the posing and sketching, his eyes conveyed the truth of the matter had nothing to do with humoring Miss Bingley, but everything to do with an uninhibited excuse to stare at Miss Elizabeth.

For her part, Caroline Bingley recognized the silent tête-à-tête between her adversary and her aim, and she interjected her wishes to put a stop to it. "Yoohoo, Mr. Darcy? Would you be so kindly kind as to look this way? There is a veritable spark in your eye, sir, I am most anxious to capture."

Darcy coughed and blinked profusely before turning his gaze to Caroline's direction with a frown on his face.

Elizabeth shook herself as she realized just how desperately sentimental her feelings were becoming, all on the same day she had vowed to make sure she and Jane left this house with their hearts guarded! No longer caring about the subject or the challenge, Elizabeth held back her own laughter as she completed her portrait of Mr. Darcy with Don Quixote in a similar manner of a young child.

Deciding she was through with the painting adventure, Elizabeth put her brush down and drifted over to Mr. Bingley and Jane. The two were sitting across from one another, Jane leaned forward to match Mr. Bingley's forward position in his chair. As she neared, she heard a bit of conversation that worried her.

"I have never kept a secret from . . ." Jane's face slackened to one of indifference as she spotted Elizabeth standing ever so close to her chair.

"Mr. Bingley, your home is so lovely and well attended. When the Kemps held Netherfield, there were always such beautiful balls and gatherings. . ." Elizabeth looked above her at the impeccably painted high ceilings and intricate moldings along the edges.

"Well let that put a rest to it! Your sister and I were just discussing holding a ball in a seven night's time though it was to be a secret until after you returned home." Mr. Bingley's eyes squinted in mirth with his confession.

"Mr. Bingley," Jane chastised as he had reached forward to place a kiss on Jane's hand. Jane craned her neck to look up at her sister, "He did not wish for Caroline to enlist our aid in planning such a fete though I did offer we would be happy to help."

"Of course, we would . . ." Elizabeth trailed off as her eyes caught movement in the other far corner of the room. Mr. Darcy was now standing and stretching from his pose and Elizabeth realized if she did not return to the canvasses, then Caroline or Mr. Darcy or both would come and intrude on Jane and her beau. "Excuse me, I appear to be needed for the judging."

"Judging?" Jane asked but with no real interest. As soon as Elizabeth walked away, she smiled and laughed again at something Mr. Bingley said and did not pursue her sister across the room.

The smug look of self-satisfaction filled Caroline Bingley's face and Elizabeth remembered now how she had thrown the competition to be done with such a folly. Mr. Darcy was waiting patiently on the other side of the canvases for permission to walk forward.

"She's here, now you can come forward and declare which painting best captures your essence, Mr. Darcy." Caroline's voice positively sang the sentence as Elizabeth snorted quietly and held her laughter at bay with tightly pressed lips.

Fitzwilliam Darcy's experience in sitting for portraits stretched all the way back to when he was a babe, and repeated no less than every three years after that. To sit for a simple sketch was far less aggravating though tiring all the same. He looked to Caroline's canvas and found an undeveloped offering, completed, though, in all of the main areas, with his nose slightly crooked, his chin muddled, and the proportions of his shoulders much too large in comparison to his head.

"That is a very admirable piece of art, Miss Bingley. I am flattered by how you have used your colors to contrast the book to my skin tone."

Caroline beamed at such high praise as Mr. Darcy turned to the utter mess that was Elizabeth's painting.

The eyes were impeccably drawn, a more accurate portrayal not possible unless he punched holes in the painting and stood behind it. The rest, however, a haphazard display of lines and washes of color, were hardly the study of a serious artist. Something appeared to have happened halfway through and despite her claims of no talent, Miss Elizabeth held a very natural talent for drawing she wished to conceal.

Darcy looked behind him at the lady who drew the masterpiece of mess to read her expression, but the woman gawked back at him, daring him to make a choice. Either he would be honest or lie, a gambit the two enjoyed throwing at one another's feet at every turn.

"The eyes are impeccably captured, but I'm afraid your fatigue shows through the rest of the painting."

"I did grow extraordinarily tired of the exercise half way through, but find myself much revived now the ordeal is over." Elizabeth teased Mr. Darcy just the same even though the man did impress her with his willingness to be fair, but kind, in regards to her painting.

"So who's painting do you enjoy the most? Which one of us is more accomplished?" Caroline Bingley whined as she took off the apron she had been wearing to protect her clothing from the watercolors.

Darcy and Elizabeth looked at one another, briefly, stunned that Miss Bingley could act like such a child.

"I think both paintings show that only multiple sessions or a much lengthier session than I am able to provide would offer the opportunity for a perfect likeness. While I find the one detail in Miss Elizabeth's painting to be superb, your painting, Miss Bingley, did accomplish more capture of the overall subject."

Caroline preened and batted her eyelashes at Mr. Darcy for what she decided was a proclamation of herself as the winner. "I should be happy to sign the portrait and give it to you to keep, Mr. Darcy."

Darcy cleared his throat and shifted his weight between his feet. A small hand rested on his arm with a gentle, caring touch and not the vice-like grip of Miss Bingley to get his attention.

"We both shall sign and gift our paintings to him. Offer him this souvenir of an afternoon's folly!" Elizabeth laughed at her painting, it truly was horrendous in the styling, but a visual representation of her frustration.

As both ladies committed their names to the bottom right corners, Darcy's face lit up with an idea.

"I wonder if you two artistic ladies would join me on a short jaunt in the main halls? There is an inordinate amount of artwork hanging all throughout the house and since we are stuck inside, I find the inclusion of stretching my legs to be another inducement."

Caroline did not need to be asked twice to join Mr. Darcy on a walk, but Elizabeth hesitated. The temptation to stretch her legs seemed insurmountable as her pent up energies from three days of rain were snarling inside of her like a caged tiger at a menagerie. But to leave Jane and Charles? The thought appeared to translate to Mr. Darcy as he followed her gaze to the happy couple sitting by the fire.

"We could invite Mr. Bingley and Miss Bennet, but do you think a walk would tax Miss Bennet's strength?" Mr. Darcy asked.

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Today is the first day she has been out of bed the whole time, let's not disturb them, but leave the doors open."

"But, of course," Mr. Darcy bowed as Elizabeth walked past him towards the double doors out of the drawing room. Anticipating Miss Bingley taking his arm, Darcy bent his elbow slightly and indeed, the lady attached herself forthwith.

A/N So I laughed out loud at the part where Caroline pronounced Elizabeth's skills to be beneath her, so she would start. The next scene will be a fun walk as Darcy is going to discover that Elizabeth's favorite place to walk in the mornings is Oakham Mount. And yes, this detail will be critical for him to remember later on. wink, wink, nudge, nudge

There will be a separation of our dear couple coming up but only for a few days plus the introduction of Wickham and Collins. Remember this story only spans about 13 days in the real story. :)

XOXOXOX  
Elizabeth Ann West


	19. Chapter 19

The halls of Netherfield Park held six generations of art carefully collected over generations by the Kemp family. The scandalous death of Lord Kemp occurred when Jane and Elizabeth were but young children, and while the debts of Lord Kemp were long since paid, Lady Kemp, never blessed with children of her own, preferred to live in town on her meager portion. Mr. Jonathan Gilmartin, Lord Kemp's eldest son from his first marriage, did not have a title to inherit and saw no need to leave his businesses in London to play the part of a disgraced eldest son of a once great family.

That Mr. Gilmartin, as he was now fashioned, saw Netherfield Park, the only property to survive the ancient family's downfall, as little more than an investment property, worked in Mr. Bingley's favor. Gilmartin's agent, Mr. Phillips, had been instructed to take a keen interest in selling the land and house by parcel or whole lot. A fancy gentleman from London looking to lease before purchasing seemed the perfect tenant for the property, despite it being so close to harvest when the property let.

As Caroline Bingley, Mr. Darcy, and Elizabeth Bennet briskly walked the halls of Netherfield to admire the many works of art, a subtle discordance brewed between the two ladies. As one viewed the artwork as her family's future possessions, Miss Bingley's comments were of a critical attitude as opposed to Miss Elizabeth's perspective of respecting the heritage of her home country.

As the group came upon a heavily dated portrait of a woman in a gilded frame and boxy, Tudor styled gown, Miss Bingley sneered at the ancient likeness. "I could never imagine wearing such a frilly collar and decadent brocades. Why the weight of those fabrics must be an absolute labor to wear."

Elizabeth leaned closer to the painting to read the small inscribed name of the subject on a gold plate affixed to the frame: Mary Bennet Gilmartin. Elizabeth laughed.

"It would appear it is one of my ancestors to disappoint you, Miss Bingley. May I present my excessively great-aunt Mary Bennet Gilmartin, the second Lady Kemp."

"Your family is connected to this estate? I never would have guessed." Miss Bingley scoffed again at what she perceived to be the Bennet's lowly connection.

Elizabeth sighed, taxed in biting back a sarcastic rejoinder. "My family has lived on the land here for over ten generations. It's only fitting that where the Bennets have held Longbourn since the time of Henry VIII, that the Gilmartins were similarly situated on their lands."

"Yes, but I am to understand the Bennet name will also soon lose their seat in the county. What a pity. For the county to see such a loss of two great families in one lifetime." Miss Bingley offered a false statement of sympathy.

As a threesome began walking down the hall to leave Mrs. Mary Gilmartin behind, Mr. Darcy offered his opinion on the matter.

"It is unfortunate that the laws of property preserve the land at the expense of those who love and care for it."

Elizabeth tilted her head and turned towards Mr. Darcy to see if there appeared a look of sincerity on his face to match his words. To her surprise, he was not mocking her. Still, she could not help but needle him further about his opinion that flew in defiance of her expectations. "I should think most men of your stature would celebrate the custom of entailment. The contract keeps an estate together in one piece for the continued prosperity of those who dwell on it. That the family residing in the great house should change out is of little matter to the tenants and the farmers who work from sunup to sundown for a meager existence."

"I'm afraid you are mistaken in my position, Miss Elizabeth." The way he said her name with such tenderness still unnerved her. "The stewardship of an estate as large as Netherfield Park or even of your father's is a significant matter for the pleasant existence of those who dwell on the land, as you put it. A tenant farmer would most enjoy a diligent master who was both fair and industrious. Few are groomed for such a role without a start at birth."

Darcy's words embarrassed Elizabeth, and her cheeks tinged pink. A flight of fancy in her mind wondered if Mr. Darcy was criticizing her father's lackadaisical stewardship, but the most sensible part of her wits reminded her he was but a stranger in a strange land. While Miss Bingley might have diligently collected gossip on every major family in the area in just a few weeks' time, it was not a necessity for Mr. Darcy in his daily business. Still, for the very knowledge of her father's lack of leadership, Elizabeth felt ashamed. That a cousin of hers would inherit her family's holdings felt painful, but it was not the most illustrious parcel in the county.

Discussions of land management ceased as the three strollers came upon a petitely painted landscape in comparison to the monstrous portraits they had seen so far. Elizabeth gasped at the prospect captured in what appeared to be the glory of Dawn's light cascading over the verdant fields of Hertfordshire.

"It appears this artwork pleases you, Miss Elizabeth. Is it the subject or the skill of the artist that has captured your attention?" Mr. Darcy's warm question began to make Elizabeth forget that Miss Bingley had even joined them on this inspection of the art in Netherfield.

A smile crept across Elizabeth's face and the gloom and doom of the last three days of rain melted away from her memory. "This view is from the top of Oakham Mount, my favorite destination for my morning jaunts. There is a stone just out of view of this painting here," she pointed with her hand to a place that was beyond the frame of the painting. "And it is one of my greatest pleasures to sit and take in the Lord's bounty and beauty as it rolls over the gentle hills and fields before me. I feel quite small . . ." Elizabeth caught her breath when she realized what a personal confession had escaped her lips. "When I sit there, I enjoy the reminder that as we are here for but a short time, the rocks and hills and trees endure." She attempted to minimize her personal attachment to the painting by inspecting the length of the hall they still needed to cover.

"I had no idea you were such a philosopher, Miss Eliza. Why you should write your thoughts down when you go to your little mountain, I'm sure all of London would be most eager for the musings of a gently bred lady from the countryside." Caroline attempted another swipe at her guest, one that would fit in beautifully in the ballrooms of London, but only earned her a stern look from Mr. Darcy in a royal blue carpeted hallway a few miles from a small market town.

"What I mean, to say that is, your hillside offers you such a novel perspective on the world. I could see many of my friends enjoying the spectacular descriptions you might offer."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and arched her eyebrow. She was not fooled by Miss Bingley's haphazard revision of her words, the insult that Elizabeth might need some employment came up all too often, becoming a pattern. Just that morning Miss Bingley had mused about the hypotheticals a young widow and unmarried daughters might find themselves facing should the patriarch pass. Charles had asked Caroline to change the subject, and the harpy from London's fast set attempted to play it off that she had been worried for her own welfare, should anything happen to Charles, as her protector.

"It is fortune enough for me to share my observations with my close friends and family. The world proper must suffer their exclusion as best as it may muster."

Mr. Darcy coughed at the sharp, yet simple, set down Elizabeth offered to Caroline, and they were soon further on their way down the hall when Miss Elizabeth paused them.

"Forgive me, but I am worried the hour is growing later than we are noticing. Ought we not turn back, see to Jane and Mr. Bingley, and begin preparations for dinner?" Elizabeth twisted her mouth back and forth in a wistful manner, happy she had found a way to stop this charade of a stroll and looking at the artwork, but unhappy once again she was insulting Miss Bingley's household management skills.

"If you are fatigued, Miss Eliza, I am certain Mr. Darcy and I can continue on without you-"

"I have just remembered I was to write a very important letter to my solicitor in London. Forgive me, Miss Bingley . . ." Mr. Darcy bowed low, echoing the words used by Miss Elizabeth, "but if we could return to the drawing room, I should like to take advantage of the better lighting before the sun retires for the day."

"Yes, yes, we must return at once, we can always return to inspecting the creative offerings of the home at another time." Miss Bingley snaked her arm once more in Mr. Darcy's. While the great man paused for a moment for Elizabeth to take his other arm, she remained defiantly unattached.

Watching her slippered feet just peek from under her drab, brown hem, Elizabeth Bennet counted her steps and her breaths in an alternating pattern. She disliked how quickly her anger rose around Miss Bingley and how much she caught herself competing for Mr. Darcy's good opinion. If only the rain would stop, she just might walk all the way home as quickly as she could!

*****  
A/N This was a week of suffering. All week long I suffered from the technology gremlins and they finally got me! My beloved iMac is at the Apple Store getting a brand new hard drive. I managed to back up 56 GB, but it's been a looooong week between that and also managing to break my wordpress site, too. I just batted 1,000, I should have bought a lottery ticket! :) I've been reading all of the reviews and they are so kind, THANK YOU! Here's the first scene I can get up right now, on my laptop. But don't worry, I have Death Wish Coffee. This book is getting done. Whether it LIKES it or NOT! :)

XOXOXXOXOX  
Elizabeth Ann West

P.S. while I did lose some data, fear not, I take digital loss in stride as a sign that whatever was lost can be reformed in a new, better version. Thank goodness all of my book files etc. are safe in like triplicate backup.


	20. Chapter 20

The third morning since Jane's recovery donned with a dry sky, but a dense mist extending far beyond the boundaries of Mr. Bingley's leased estate. Elizabeth Bennet selected a gown of a creamy, ivory hue spotted with a dark plum. It was the same gown she had worn on her first day at Netherfield Park. But as it was her favorite frock in both comfort and style, Elizabeth decided those features over compensated for the embarrassing social hiccough of wearing the same gown twice in such a short visit.

Remembering that it was not raining, Elizabeth Bennet shunned her delicate slippers for her more sturdy walking boots in a thrice. Donning a Spencer, for she expected the air to be quite chilled, she dashed out of her room without checking on Jane to seek her freedom beyond the walls of the great house. A satisfying crunch of the gravel beneath her feet quickened her pace towards the edge of the fog when a familiar voice startled her in her progress.

"Miss Elizabeth! Miss Elizabeth!"

Stomping her foot, Elizabeth Bennet spun around and offered a perfunctory curtsy to Mr. Darcy. The man caught up to her at the edge of the drive, slightly out of breath from using his long legs in a refined jog to reach her.

"Do you plan to walk, Miss Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth frowned. It was quite obvious to her what her intentions were, and her patience for social niceties nearly disappeared. "Nay, I intend to embroider a pillow in the finest gold thread and jewel tones."

Mr. Darcy laughed, eliciting a confused choreography of Elizabeth's eyebrows as she did not think her deadpan response was quite that funny.

"You do not simper like the ladies of my acquaintance in London."

"Then perhaps you should make new acquaintances in London if you find a society to be lacking." Elizabeth looked behind her at the wild beauty just be on the path that she so desperately wished to explore, but had no intention of inviting Mr. Darcy to join her, alone, in the dense fog.

"I do not so easily speak to people I am not well acquainted with. I find sanctuary in silence as others carry the burden of social platitudes." Darcy's hands clasped behind his back as the man stood a little taller, correcting a perceived deficiency in his posture.

Elizabeth shrugged. "My sister is shy, but she is careful not to allow her shyness offend those around her."

"And my silence has offended you. Or perhaps it was my offhand remark at the assembly that offended you?" Mr. Darcy bowed in contrition, thus not seeing Elizabeth mouth dropped open in surprise and snapped shut, pressed in a firm line of anger.

"If you knew yourself to be offensive, sir, I wonder that you never apologized?" Elizabeth began to walk down the path to put a little bit of distance between herself and Mr. Darcy.

"But I just have, madam."

Elizabeth hurried her pace and looked over her shoulder with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Again you are mistaken, Mr. Darcy. You have only acknowledged that both your silence at times and words, at other times, have greatly offended me. I heard not a word of regret or apology in your observation." Reaching the end of the path, Elizabeth could not take another step without beginning a journey into the denser fog. Scowling, she quickly turned around and started her walk in the opposite direction along the length of the path, forcing Mr. Darcy to hasten so that he might keep up with her and her pacing.

"And how would you wish for me to apologize more formally? Would you like a letter, listing all of my faults and missteps since our introduction? Shall I enumerate yours, when you have used your beguiling charms to ensnare me and then reject me as I am all too familiar is a game for most ladies' amusement."

Elizabeth halted and scoffed at the man who could not even offer a simple apology for his transgressions. "The only game I have played with you, sir, took place on a chessboard. If you perceived my actions or words to have offered you any encouragement of the seduction –"

"Seduction!"

"Yes, the seduction that you and Mr. Bingley have co-conspired to . . . UGH" Elizabeth lost her train of thought in a muddle of blinding rage as every high and low of her Netherfield visit played in rapid succession in her memory. Finding her situation untenable, Elizabeth Bennet marched off, away from Mr. Darcy.

Incensed that the woman would storm off without explanation yet again, Mr. Darcy's hand involuntarily reached out and grabbed her arm. Elizabeth yelped and then covered her mouth with her free hand as she continued to tug away from Mr. Darcy's grip.

Realizing his gross error, Mr. Darcy released his hand, but the opposite force of Elizabeth's struggle carried her body away from him with such power, she fell backward to the ground behind her.

"My God! Elizabeth, I am so very sorry. I do not know what came over me." Mr. Darcy crumpled to his knees as Elizabeth sat there, unceremoniously smarting on her posterior. As the shock of her fall wore off, Elizabeth settled her weight using her abdominal muscles and lifted the hands that had broken her fall. She inspected the multitude of scratches from the rocks below and brushed off the pea-sized gravel still stuck to her porcelain skin.

"You're most grievously injured, and is all my fault. May I –" Darcy gulped as his eyes locked with Elizabeth's, "may I assist you?" He held out his hands to help her up.

The weight of Mr. Darcy's concern pressed heavily on Elizabeth's chest. The man looked at her as if she were someone of precious value, a different look of affection than what she had experienced with her father when she had been particularly clever or made him laugh. A giggle bubbled up through Elizabeth's throat, and she shook her head, continuing to dust herself off.

"I believe I might manage." Elizabeth leaned forward, testing that her feet stood firmly planted beneath her, and continued her slightly forward roll to lift herself off the ground and stand up in the most ladylike fashion available. Mr. Darcy likewise rose, appearing morbidly uncomfortable now that the danger had passed, and only the guilt of his actions remained.

"Mr. Darcy –"

"Miss Elizabeth –"

Elizabeth laughed again as they attempted to speak at the same time. Cautiously, Darcy joined her in her mirth. After the stress of the argument and fall dissipated in laughter, they both calmed their behavior and found a comfort in each other's eyes once more. Elizabeth marveled at the very peace such silence between them fostered, a peace that became shattered all too often the second that they spoke to one another. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes to break the spell and reopened them to focus on the injuries to her hands that were now beginning to throb.

"I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings, Mr. Darcy, in my rude behavior that I confess has worried me since coming to stay here."

"No, please, do not . . . You have been baited at every turn, and I have been most impressed by your fortitude under such trying circumstances." Darcy took a breath before continuing. "It is a trait I have greatly admired."

Elizabeth gasped as Mr. Darcy once again began to lift her spirits in a manner she was not prepared to allow. "Please, your compliments are too confusing, sir."

"Confusing? But I only wish to say that I admire you a great deal, Miss Elizabeth."

"And I am not willing to accept such admiration. I hope you have a pleasant morning, sir." Elizabeth curtsied and began to walk away again.

"Miss Elizabeth!" he called after her, this time only reaching out a hand in her direction, but not touching her person again.

"I'm sorry, I really must go." She held up her injured hands reminding him that she did, in fact, have pressing matters to ameliorate. She dashed back indoors, breathless over so many difficult feelings and wishes in her mind. Her hands began to brighten into an angry red as her body attempted to repair the small cuts and scrapes. Elizabeth had been looking at her hands so intently as she walked, she nearly bumped into Jane halfway up the stairs.

"Lizzy! What happened?" Jane spied Elizabeth's injury right away. The front doors opened beneath them as Mr. Darcy entered the foyer and looked up at the two ladies.

"I tripped as I was walking and broke my fall with my hands. The ground is ever so slippery."

"Come to my room," Jane looked over her shoulder with suspicion to a very guilt-stricken Mr. Darcy still standing just inside the home. "I have a balm that should help."

As the two Bennet sisters began to walk back above stairs, Mr. Bingley poked his head out of the dining room. Seeing the ladies retiring in the opposite direction of breaking their fasts, Mr. Bingley next sized up his friend, standing silently dumbstruck in the entryway.

"Darcy. Darcy." Mr. Bingley whispered harshly, attracting the attentions of his friend. "What the devil happened?"

Mr. Darcy frowned and stroked his hand errantly through his hair. "I've bungled it, Bingley. She hates me. And I deserve it. And she thinks we are working in concert to woo them."

Mr. Bingley's eye widened as he exited the dining room fully. "Are you mad! Whatever did you tell her? Her sister has accepted me! If you have ruined my happiness, I shall never forgive you, old man."

Darcy shook his head and walked to join Bingley in the dining room. He helped no appetite, but perhaps a strong cup of coffee would alleviate his self-deprecation by providing a bitter distraction. "I do not know, Charles. I've truly mucked things up this time."

***  
A/N I am going fast and furious now, trying to make up for lost time. I LOVE this scene and it just sprouted out this morning unplanned. The planned scenes were not going very well. :) But now it is. PHEW. And the cat is out of the bag about Jane and Bingley's secret... ooooOOOOH. :) And before people scream at me about Darcy and Elizabeth behaving out of character, we are going to have to agree to disagree :) In the original, the two of them were at the end of their endurance I believe when the Bennet sisters LEFT Netherfield. I have tacked 4 extra days, more misunderstandings, and Elizabeth falling in love for the first time which is always awkward no matter who you are and Mr. Darcy struggling with his feelings. After all, it's rather odd that both Darcy AND Bingley should fall for two women of the same family in the same time span. Seesh. So we have drama, drama, drama, and you'll notice that anytime Elizabeth has a chance to clear her head with a prolonged period AWAY from Mr. Darcy she is not keen on this making a match business with a man who has insulted her. She does not KNOW him. And I hope that is starting to come clear. But don't worry, they WILL be HEA by the end, I promise, cross my heart. And my other hard drive. :)

Reviews make me write faster. It's true . . . ;)


	21. Chapter 21

The dining room was not empty as Caroline Bingley sat prim and proper, hoping Mr. Darcy would notice she had risen particularly early. Her smile faded as Mr. Darcy entered the dining room, his face as white as a ghost.

"How badly could things possibly have gone? You were not with Miss Elizabeth for but a few minutes' time!" Charles stood defiantly at the front of the room, as Darcy shuffled his feet to a chair and took a seat. Caroline's head jerked back to see Fitzwilliam Darcy slouch in his chair, clearly distressed over something to do with that Bennet chit!

"Mr. Darcy? Has Miss Elizabeth offended you? Charles, Charles!" Caroline threw her serviette on the table as she chirped her brother's name to get his attention. Charles finally gave up on interrogating Darcy and glared at his sister.

"What, Caroline?"

Jutting her chin out, Caroline Bingley rose from her chair to bring her presence closer to Mr. Darcy in consolation. "I told you those Bennet women are wild and unpredictable. Why I have heard Miss Eliza insult poor Mr. Darcy on more than one occasion since she has been here! We must send them away this instant to protect our poor guest's nerves."

"The Bennet ladies are our guests as well, as I keep having to remind you, sister."

"Yes, but Mr. Darcy is not a mere stone's throw from his own home like the Bennets. We must send the away so that Mr. Darcy might know some peace in his country retreat."

"No," Darcy said, glumly, refusing to look up at either of the Bingley siblings. "There is no need to send anyone away on my account. Besides, the roads are too treacherous still and the fog doubly so. I would not send out even a lame horse in this weather."

"But she has offended you most severely. I do not wish to insult you, Mr. Darcy, but you look unwell." Caroline attempted to put a caring pat on the great man's forearm but Darcy snatched it back before Caroline's kindness could land.

"HO! HO! Is he unwell! But it's not from a transgression by a Bennet!" Bingley teased his friend who finally lifted his head to glare at his host with a dark stare. "Don't blame me, old friend. You know my advice on the matter." Bingley began to walk towards the door, but Darcy called out to him.

"Where are you going, Charles? Surely you are not leaving?"

"Miss Elizabeth has been injured on my property. I will most certainly inquire as to how her condition fares from her sister."

Caroline panicked as the exchanges between her brother and Mr. Darcy were not in her favor. That Charles was in the Bennet clutches was a foregone conclusion, but not Mr. Darcy! Quickly, she moved ahead her plans to discuss the evening's goals at luncheon to the present.

"Charles, please tell the Bennet ladies they are to select a sonnet for recitation this evening for tonight's after dinner entertainment. Louisa won't participate, of course, remaining in her rooms today as she is indisposed. But we are to all pick our favorite sonnet and deliver them for great fun!"

"I do not think—" Charles Bingley began to argue with his sister about her plans when Darcy interjected.

"That is a marvelous idea, Miss Bingley." The faint glimmers of cheer lifted Darcy's voice. "I would be happy to select a sonnet to share."

Caroline clapped her hands in a petite applause for herself, giddy that Mr. Darcy agreed with her plans for entertainment. "Charles? If Mr. Darcy will play along, you should just as well. . ." she taunted.

Bingley gaped at his friend, then shut his mouth and frowned. He was outvoted and even if the Bennet sisters were unwilling to participate, he would surely not be able to sit out now that Darcy had agreed.

"I yield. I shall mention the plans to the ladies, but I would not be surprised if they are reluctant to join us in our theatrics."

After Charles had left, Caroline took the seat next to Mr. Darcy and cornered the poor man about his misery. "If sonnets be a source of good cheer for you, we can begin our study of them this afternoon in the library. I should enjoy a chance to practice my diction and memorization with a partner."

Darcy gulped and shook his head, without looking at Miss Bingley, but instead taking a great interest in the globs of wax hanging in abstract fashion on the candelabra before him. "I'm afraid I am going to retire to my room for a rest so that I am well-prepared for this evening's recitation. Besides, if we should practice together, the surprise effect of our selections will be lost in tonight's festivities." Darcy did not wish to reveal that he could sense a tear in his trousers at the knee from where he fell to assist Miss Elizabeth in her distress that was his causing. He needed to retire above stairs to change his clothing.

"And are you looking forward to learning what my sonnet selection will be?" Caroline baited Mr. Darcy in hopes of drawing out more of the lively personality she witnessed whenever Miss Eliza was near.

"I imagine the element of surprise will be only one of the highlights of the evening." Darcy turned to Caroline to nod as he excused himself from the table and the room. He thankfully brought a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets with him on this trip and could study at length in his room, at least until he knew it safe to venture out and avoid Miss Bingley in the afternoon hours.

****  
A/N Making progress! I have begun making changes to the beginning of the story base don feedback here. So please, if you have feedback/suggestions, please feel free to add them to the reviews or PM them to me if you'd like. :)


	22. Chapter 22

Sitting calmly in an upholstered chair, Elizabeth Bennet sucked in her breath as her sister Jane applied an herbal tincture to her pained hands. The pressure of her sister's fingertips agitated her fresh wounds.

"How did you fall, exactly? Was Mr. Darcy involved?" Jane asked, lifting her gaze to watch her sister's face as she responded. The sweet and serene Jane Bennet became a force to reckon with when her younger siblings were mistreated. Even though Elizabeth took the blame, it was Jane Bennet who had given John Lucas that black eye when they were kids scampering about the countryside. The secret between the sisters was never exposed and for John's part, he never admitted that a girl had bested him for throwing rotten apples at her younger sister.

"No, I mean yes, but he did not mean to, it was truly an accident." Elizabeth stammered to reply, feeling an anxiety clutch her heart. She wanted to explain to Jane how she and Mr. Darcy had quarreled, but now the argument sounded so ridiculous in her memory. Had she truly accused Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley of a seduction? Elizabeth groaned at her memories of the exchange and received an apology from Jane. But it was not the pain that made her groan.

"No, I was rude and accused Mr. Darcy of a fanciful notion. We disagreed, as we often do when we are in private company with each other."

Jane carefully inspected Elizabeth hands as she asked her next question. "Have you and Mr. Darcy been alone very often since we've been here?"

"Not by design, I assure you!" Elizabeth closed her fists to signal she was finished with her sister's interrogation and nursing. "I visited the library for new reading material, it turns out the library is one of his favorite rooms."

Jane nodded slowly in agreement. "His library at Pemberley–"

Elizabeth stood up from her chair and scowled at Jane. "You and Miss Bingley both! Yes, his library at Pemberley is the most extensive collection of books in the whole kingdom, his library at Pemberley is so expertly decorated in a warm and inviting manner—"

A knock on the door interrupted the two sisters as they both startled and looked toward the source of the noise. After Jane's verbal acknowledgment, the door opened a small crack and a masculine voice called out.

"Miss Bennet? I have come to see to the condition of your sister, Ms. Elizabeth." Mr. Bingley's voice carried to the small crack in the door as Jane stood up to open it wider. Elizabeth blew up a breath that fluttered her bangs as a contrite and concerned Mr. Bingley stood just in the doorway looking past her sister Jane and focused on her. "I have heard how your injury occurred, and I am deeply embarrassed such an injury came to pass while you were visiting my home."

"I am well, Mr. Bingley. Jane can tell you, I've experienced far worse scrapes and bruises on my walks at home." Elizabeth attempted to thwart the truth of the incident from being revealed.

"Be that as it may, Mr. Darcy is dreadfully sorry he caused your fall and wishes to send you his heartfelt apologies. I hope you can forgive my friend for his poor manners. He does not perform to his best when he is in uncomfortable situations. "

Hearing Mr. Bingley's apology for his friend reminded Elizabeth of Mr. Darcy's supposition that it was his insults at the assembly which offended her most. Feeling minxish, Elizabeth decided to test Mr. Bingley's culpability. "Tell me, Mr. Bingley, was it you who told Mr. Darcy that I heard his comment at the assembly? Because he mentioned that to me right before I fell."

"Charles!" Jane covered her mouth with her hand, looking between her sister and her intended. "Lizzie, I am sure if Mr. Bingley mentioned anything about the assembly to his friend it was not in the interest of harming you."

Mr. Bingleys upper lip caught the light from the beads of sweat lining up just under his nose as he turned his face to Jane. "I have broken your confidence, my darling."

Elizabeth gasped and Mr. Bingleys use of a term of endearment for her sister.

Jane's hand reached out towards her sister to reassure her. "It is not incorrect, I had planned to tell you before Mr. Bingley came upstairs." Jane turned her back to her precious Charles and offered her sister a face full of happiness. "Mr. Bingley has offered for my hand and I have accepted, but we still must speak to father."

Reeling from the shock of her sister's revelation, it now began to make sense to Elizabeth why Jane would accept a letter from Mr. Bingley. She was his intended! Elizabeth's intelligence made the next leap to comprehend Mr. Bingleys behavior concerning her relationship with Mr. Darcy. When Jane and Bingley married, it would only be natural that she and Mr. Darcy would find themselves often in mutual company. It would not do for her to hate the closest friend of her sister's husband.

As Jane and Mr. Bingley whispered between each other, Elizabeth finished her contemplation to look up and spy Mr. Darcy walking past the open door. He did not look into the bedroom but kept his gaze forward towards his aim. Elizabeth smiled to herself at the handsome look his profile offered, then remembered she was still angry with the man.

"I am overjoyed for you both! To think, I shall finally have a brother!" Elizabeth reached her hands forward to clasp her sister's, and the two Bennet girls squeezed the others' hands. Dropping her sister's grasp, Elizabeth addressed Mr. Bingley. "If the fog lifts this afternoon, while we might all go to to Longbourn this very day and you can speak with Papa."

Mr. Bingleys affable smile faltered at Miss Elizabeth's prediction of their near future plans. "I'm afraid Mr. Darcy has reported the ground is much too soft for any equipage. That was the errand I had sent him on before he encountered you."

Elizabeth could not hide her disappointment from her face as Jane reassured Mr. Bingley that they would be happy to stay another night. All Elizabeth could think about was having to endure Mr. Darcy and Miss Bingley's company for yet another night. Just the prospect of such a future began to bring on the symptoms of a headache.

"Perhaps I should remain in my rooms to recover from my accident this morning."

"Oh no, Elizabeth Marie, you are not so injured as to insult Mr. Bingley with your absence." Jane surprisingly admonished her sister in a sharp tone.

"If Miss Elizabeth should need to rest, I am certain I might make her apologies for the remainder of the day. Though it would be a shame to miss her sonnet recitation." Mr. Bingley sighed to feign an actual disappointment over his beloved's sister planning to remove herself from the general company for the day.

"Sonnet recitation?"

"Indeed. I was just explaining to Jane that Caroline has requested we all select a sonnet to recite this evening after dinner. I was reluctant at first, but even Fitzwilliam will participate. I suspect the exercise will be highly diverting!" Mr. Bingley took Jane's hand to bow over it and kissed the top.

As Jane giggled over Mr. Bingley's attentions, Elizabeth began to feel guilty. As soon as Caroline Bingley learned of the engagement, there was certain to be a new approach in her attitude towards Jane. Having spent greater than two days' time in a friendless state among the Bingley sisters, Elizabeth felt inspired to rise to the occasion.

"If it will please you, Sister, then I shall be happy to select a sonnet for performance."

"Then if you are recovered, might we go down to the drawing room and enjoy the dry afternoon's light? Charles, do you enjoy playing cribbage?" Jane asked earnestly of her intended as she took his arm to lead her out of her bedroom.

"Remind me, is that the game where we add to twenty-one or thirty-one?"

"Thirty-one," Elizabeth offered as she walked around the couple in the hallway. "I shall join you in the drawing room after I visit the library. I can work on memorizing my sonnet while you play cards." Elizabeth did not add that she also knew there was no possible way for Mr. Darcy to be in the library since it appeared he had walked towards his rooms. Elizabeth aimed to find the copy of Shakespeare's sonnets and retreat to the relative safety of Jane and Bingley's company as soon as she was able.

A gentle nod was the only acknowledgment Elizabeth Bennet received from her sister as she left their company for her mission. In spite of her small pangs of jealousy, Elizabeth felt truly happy for Jane's happiness and relieved that her sister might make a match with a man she so greatly admired. Any months that Miss Bingley was away on holiday, Elizabeth would be happy to visit her sister and new brother, assuming, of course, their father agreed to the match. Though for the life of her, Elizabeth could not imagine her father denying Jane such a worthy suitor, other than perhaps consideration of the abject misery her mother would put the family through as the banns were read.

Elizabeth reached the library and entered the room, calling out to see if anyone was there. Receiving no response, she breathed a sigh of relief and began her search.

***  
A/N Yes, our couple shall meet again! And the cat is out of the bag about Jane and Bingley! WOOHOO! It would appear that Mr. Darcy's copy is mysteriously missing, and Miss Elizabeth won't be able to find the household's copy of the sonnets, either. I wonder where they might be . . . )


	23. Chapter 23

Darcy entered his suite to interrupt his man, Arnold, polishing his riding boots. The servant who had been with Fitzwilliam since his school days, and son of the valet for the Darcy's father, finished his brushstroke and looked up at the sound of the door opening.

"Can I help you, sir? Arnold's keen eye inspected his master from head to toe and spotted an obvious problem with the state of his trousers. Carefully setting the half polished boot and brush on a white cloth in front of him, Mr. Arnold hastened to the wardrobe to find a suitable replacement for Mr. Darcy.

Darcy stroked his mostly clean-shavened cheek with the back of his knuckles as he walked forward to change his attire. "I have right ruined things with Miss Elizabeth."

The valet who enjoyed a more personal relationship with his master than others of his profession offered to hear more of Mr. Darcy's burden he seemed eager to unload. "Is that how you injured your knee?"

Darcy looked down at his bare legs to see what Arnold referred to as an injury. He had not only managed to rip his trousers, but also broken the skin on his right knee. A trickle of dried blood ran halfway down his shin. Darcy laughed at himself that he had not even felt the pain from the injury from being so distracted by concern for Elizabeth.

Arnold stood up from where he had been assisting Mr. Darcy and fetched a damp cloth from the washbasin. Frowning as he inspected the wound, he dabbed the cloth around the injury and cleaned it of debris and blood. The scab held; there did not appear to be any need for stitches.

"I find myself so utterly tongue-tied when I am in her company. I have never lost my ability to string two coherent thoughts together as much as I have this past week. And even when I attempt to compliment her I somehow manage to insult!" Darcy's frustrations made Arnold's job slightly more difficult as the great man did not hold still during his rant.

Arnold nodded at his master's assessment of the situation, long privy to the daily ups and downs Mr. Darcy endured with the first lady to capture his affections. Not that Arnold would ever say such, but the recounts of Miss Elizabeth's set downs for his master already endeared the young lady to the valet's heart as well. His master perfectly exemplified all that a valet could ask for and more. But in the years since his father's death no small amount of pride and ego had naturally grafted to Mr. Darcy's personality as he lacked any sort of challenge in his daily life.

"Perhaps the lady would appreciate a token? A letter? You would not be the first suitor to find difficulty in courting with words, sir."

Darcy sighed as he obliged his valet with physical assistance to restore his attire with a new set of trousers. "I have never been the pursuer. Always the pursued."

As Darcy checked his reflection in the mirror for assurances there was nothing else amiss with his costume, his valet frowned behind him.

"Speak freely, Arnold. If you have an idea I am much eager to consider it."

Arnold tapped his finger to his mouth as he appeared to weigh his idea in his mind. Darcy waited a few minutes more for his valet to speak up before he finally turned around and glared at the man in expectation.

Arnold held his hands up in mock surrender. "I do not mean to overstep my place, but in your experiences of being the pursued, what types of behavior have you abhorred and which have you enjoyed?"

"I do not take your meaning. I do not enjoy when ladies fawn over me, fuss over me, or start inane conversations over subject matters I have no interest in…" Darcy's eyes widened as he realized that as he spoke about the behaviors that he himself could not stand, he had just listed the same behaviors he had subjected Miss Elizabeth to! "Arnold, you are a far bit smarter than the average valet."

Arnold smiled at his master and returned to his previous task of polishing Mr. Darcy's riding boots. "I do try, sir."

"I need the copy of sonnets I brought with me from London. Where are my books?"

Arnold suddenly faltered in his task.

"What? Where is my copy of Shakespeare?"

Arnold gulped and closed his eyes briefly. "I gave your copy to Miss Bingley, sir. She stopped here this morning, not long after you left, and told me you had instructed her to fetch the sonnets for a performance this evening."

Darcy pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Arnold's loyalty to him never faltered, but sometimes he wished the man wasn't quite so fastidious in his decorum when they travelled. He could hardly blame the man for denying the hostess of a house her request for one of his books.

"Do you think it likely that I would loan out my book to Miss Bingley?"

"No, sir, but I did not believe I should accuse her of lying, either. I planned to tell you about it this afternoon when you came to dress for dinner since I've heard from the staff the ground still be too wet for riding."

Darcy's vein in the side of his forehead bulged as he once more felt powerless to thwart Bingley's sister in her aims. And although he had most of Sonnet 116 committed to memory, he would not wish to misspeak in front of Elizabeth.

"I will find the sonnet int he library. Bingley must have copies in this house, I cannot imagine the Kemp family took every copy of sonnets on the premises when they left."

"Aye, sir. Do you want me to ask a maid to search Miss Bingley's rooms?"

"No, that is not necessary. With any luck, Miss Bingley is not in the library awaiting my presence yet and I can slip in and out with no detriment."

Arnold nodded as his master left him to finish his chores. Spitting again on the boot to help with shine, Arnold wished he could observe Miss Elizabeth with his master, but such a joy would have to wait until they made a match. In the meantime, Arnold hummed as he felt quite jolly at the idea of Mr. Darcy finally taking a wife. The man needed a distraction from always working and worrying over his younger sister, Miss Darcy.

*****  
A/N: While I always appreciate feedback, and I still DO, the question about the chess colors and who plays first is not an issue. During this time period, people often played their preferred color and did not change, and white did not always go first. The RULE of white going first was not codified until the 1900s, and chess rule books in the late 19th century even called out for black to go first. :)

I am uploading another scene tonight as well as this one. You all will LOVE the next one. :)

XOXOX  
Elizabeth Ann West


	24. Chapter 24

Elizabeth began to feel a frantic anxiety overcome her person. Sweat beaded upon her forehead and she swiped away her flattened bangs, a consequence of her exercise to search for a copy of Shakespeare's sonnets. All she managed to locate was a collection of his plays and briefly considered a monologue from either _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ or her favorite, _Twelfth Night_ , when the sound of the door opening alerted that her time alone had come to an end.

Her lips were pressed into a firm line of disapproval when it was none other than Mr. Darcy standing in the entryway with a look of fear on his face. Involuntarily, Elizabeth began to feel incensed over how he had walked past her sister's bedroom where she was receiving aid for her injuries and did not stop and inquire as to how her hands even fared. She had no words for the man as she began to walk towards him in order to leave the library and rejoin Jane and Mr. Bingley.

"Miss Elizabeth, I humbly ask for a moment of your time. I promise to neither assault you nor insult you . . . to the best of my humble ability."

The poor man's words in a solemn vow sparked Elizabeth's curiosity as to what could he could say after all the two of them had been through. Her curiosity being a much stronger personality trait then her ability to hold a grudge, Elizabeth winced as she placed her injured hands on her hips, then stubbornly left the there so as not to reveal her pain.

"I will hear what you have to say, sir, but I warn you that I expect your discourse with me to be that of a gentleman's and nothing less."

Feeling self-conscious as he stood in the doorway, Darcy motioned with his hand to the two chairs by the fire. Elizabeth followed his hand's direction and shrugged her shoulders. Remembering her discomfort when they were playing chess, Mr. Darcy moved the same urn to prop open the door as he had the other day.

Elizabeth beat him to the pair of matching chairs situated cozily by the fire, feeling herself chilled despite a wave of warmth washing over her body. The pain in her hands ceased as she was no longer applying pressure to her palms. When she sat down to wait for him to join her, she frowned as her nerves suddenly gave her a rare craving for some sort of employment.

"First, I most humbly and sincerely apologize for all of the words I have said regarding your person that were not of a kind nature. I was angry with Bingley at the assembly, and though it was you I most horrifically insulted, I can truly say the comment would have been said about any lady he pointed out to me that evening."

The solemnity of Mr. Darcy's full apology made Elizabeth uncomfortable. Wishing to slightly lighten the mood, she flashed Mr. Darcy a warm smile. "Even Miss Bingley?"

Darcy froze as her tease threw him from his plans of groveling and begging for forgiveness. How could the woman have been so angry with him before and now make jests? "I cannot say what I would have said to Charles if he had pointed to Miss Bingley, because I cannot imagine he would ever ask me for my thoughts about his sister. However, I also cannot logically profess that I would have refused to dance with her since I did stand up a set with her at that very assembly." Mr. Darcy hoped his honesty would count for something with Miss Elizabeth.

"So it is your habit to only insult women you are not acquainted with, as I am to understand it."

Darcy's eyes widened as his own anger began to rise in his chest. "And you madam, do you always rake your friends over the coals when they attempt to apologize to you?"

"My _friends_ know me well enough that when they have truly performed a transgression, I am not the sort to let them easily off the hook. You, sir, were most careless with your words and observations on numerous occasions since I have been in this household. That I am a lady with a firm head upon my shoulders to not dissemble at every insult does not lessen your crimes."

"My crimes? When you so willfully misunderstand me at every turn and think the worst!" Darcy stroked his hand through his hair, finding the very beautiful face of Elizabeth Bennet surrounded by the fire's glow on one side an absolute torture to his better senses.

Elizabeth began to feel she was pushing the man further than any other acquaintance had ever before. Part of her wished to see how far she might push the illustrious Mr. Darcy into admitting his own culpability, but another part of her ached to see his difficulty over learning how powerful his words truly were. Briefly, Elizabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath to start again.

"I admit that my attempts to sketch your character have been grossly colored by a prejudice against you due to the assembly. I suppose that if I might erase that first poor impression, many times you have been a complete gentleman in my company, even going so far as to show concern for my welfare."

Darcy held his breath, waiting to see if she would continue. But she did not. Neither did she make a move to get up from the chair as a signal that their business was done. He followed her example and took a deep breath himself. "I ask this question with the most honorable intentions. Have you enjoyed any of our time together?"

The direct question took Elizabeth by surprise. Her face could not hide the many emotions of delight and confusion she felt when she reflected upon the time they had spent together. If she was honest with herself, Fitzwilliam Darcy fascinated her in a way no other gentleman of her acquaintance had ever managed to accomplish. Yet the prospect of falling in love with Mr. Darcy was not one Elizabeth felt prepared to accept. She believed in love, but she was not so certain of it occurring at first sight as the poets were want to argue. As Elizabeth licked her lips, Darcy's heart skipped a beat.

"A direct question deserves a direct answer. Yes, I have enjoyed our chess games and some of our discussions. I have learned to not be so quick to judge another person." She blushed as she looked down at her injured hands for some form of penance in being so open with a man in a private setting. "Our philosophies on life do align in many unexpected ways."

"And would you–"

"There you are!" Caroline Bingley appeared in the library holding two books in her hand. As she walked around the table with an ancient Bible a top of it, her plastered smile melted as she spied Mr. Darcy sitting in a much too casual position in relation to Miss Elizabeth. "Again, Mr. Darcy, you seem bent on being unfair sir."

"And what is your charge this time, Miss Bingley?" Mr. Darcy asked flatly, noticing that Elizabeth smirked out of the corner of his eye when he turned to look at Bingley's younger sister. "What have I done to displease you, madam?"

Caroline's jaw dropped in mock shock as she held up the books and wiggled them. "You said you would practice your sonnets in your suite and yet here I find you in the library with Miss Eliza and I can only conclude that the two of you are preparing for tonight's performance. You certainly could not be doing anything else…" Caroline glared at Elizabeth Bennet as if to chastise her for being alone with Mr. Darcy, when Caroline herself held no greater desire then to be in Elizabeth's very position with the man.

"Funny you should ask, but I would indeed be in my rooms choosing a sonnet as you have directed if only my copy of the Bard's great writings were not removed this very morning from my trunks."

"Did somebody steal your book, Mr. Darcy? I should hope not, the staff here have given me no reason to believe they might be thieves." Elizabeth glared right back at Miss Bingley, turning the tables on her hostess for the earlier insinuation that Elizabeth was in the wrong for merely sitting in a chair in the library with the doors wide open.

"It slipped my mind, this morning at breakfast?" Caroline looked to Mr. Darcy to imply an intimacy that had not existed in fact, "I retrieved your copy of the sonnets from your valet, expecting that you would wish to practice with my first invitation."

As much as Elizabeth did not wish to help Caroline Bingley, neither did she really wish to continue her conversation with Mr. Darcy, feeling that the two of them were on a stable ground to start a friendship. Knowing how volatile their conversations tended to be, even worse with the catalyst of Caroline's barbs, Elizabeth realized an opportunity to get away and took it. Even though she knew it would sacrifice Mr. Darcy on her behalf. "Miss Bingley, since you only have two copies, would you be willing to let me have one so that I might work on my sonnet with Jane and Mr. Bingley? You and Mr. Darcy can work together with his copy of the sonnets," Elizabeth suggested.

"We could share my copy –" Darcy began before he was interrupted by Miss Bingley seizing the deal of the century.

Caroline hastily thrust the Netherfield copy into Elizabeth's hands the second she rose from the chair, making the petite woman suck in her breath and the refreshed pain in her hands. Assuming it to be Elizabeth realizing her mistake, Caroline paid no mind and quickly curtsied with a simple nod as she took Elizabeth's place in a chair still warm from the previous occupant.

As Elizabeth began to walk away clutching a copy of the sonnets to her breast with her forearms instead of her palms, she had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out loud as Caroline's shrill voice began to instruct Mr. Darcy on how they should practice their sonnets.

Briefly, she looked over her shoulder at the poor man she had just sentenced to Miss Bingley's company and was not surprised to see his stony glare meet her eyes. Unsure of what had come over her, Elizabeth Bennet winked at the socially awkward man from Derbyshire and her own heart felt an irregular pitter patter when Fitzwilliam Darcy rewarded her with a full, charming smile.

Finding herself surprised at how the man could make her feel without any words at all, Elizabeth's nervous energy filtered down to her feet and carried her quickly out of the room. With any luck, she would not see Mr. Darcy until dinner and then the exciting event of the sonnets.

****  
A/N Don't throw anything! I know, I know, but remember the fun is the ride! :) No one wants a roller coaster that's just one hill! :) I promise they will be together in the most wonderful way imaginable. You have my word. But they need some time to understand one another. He's still a little bit prideful and she is still a shade prejudiced. But they're going to figure it out.

XOXOXOX  
Elizabeth Ann West


	25. Chapter 25

The quintet of the Bingleys, Bennets, and Mr. Darcy drew lots to choose the order of recitation. Footmen had cleared the furniture in the drawing to place all of the seating parallel to one wall, wrapping around, and moved the carpet to sit squarely within, to act as a stage. Elizabeth found the room to be so altered, a small jolt of excitement ran through her skin producing a fresh patch of goose flesh.

Jane luckily drew the first slot from the folded bits of parchment in Mr. Bingley's hands. Elizabeth watched her sister's breathing slightly quicken as Jane sat with a serene smile on her face. While Caroline and Mr. Darcy drew their numbers, Elizabeth wished she could offer to take Jane's place to spare her sister the nervousness of performing first.

"Well, Miss Elizabeth, it's down to you. Only the second and fifth spot are remaining." Mr. Bingley played a jolly good fellow and shook his hands to mix up the remaining lots in the cupped cage of his palms. Presented with a fifty percent chance of going last, Elizabeth selected her fate and unfolded the small bit of parchment.

"It would appear I am to conclude our evening's festivities." She flipped the parchment to show a carefully scrawled '5' in the middle of the creases.

"Would you prefer I go first?" Mr. Bingley whispered to Jane, who nodded and blushed. The happy Bingley flashed his intended a bright smile, "I hoped you would agree."

As Mr. Bingley took the stage, Elizabeth slid on the sofa to reside close to her sister Jane.

Mr. Bingley very dramatically cleared his throat and made a flourish with his hands like he had seen actors in London do before starting. "I humbly dedicate this sonnet to the love of my life, my angel, Sweet Jane."

Caroline gasped as her brother stunningly pronounced his attachment to Miss Bennet, a development she and Louisa suspected but hoped would not come to pass.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love . . ." Charles Bingley began a lovestruck recitation of Sonnet 116 to the inward groan of Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Darcy panicked as the 'surprise' element of this activity robbed him of the sonnet he had prepared with Miss Bingley. He had intended to dedicate it silently to Miss Elizabeth, but now he could not very well stand up and recite the very same sonnet! Darcy racked his brain for a solution as applause broke out for Mr. Bingley's performance.

Jane responded to Mr. Bingley's lovely sentiments with much of her own, through the words of Sonnet 57. The professions of being a slave to her love, of minding the clock without minding his absence, and being a fool in love made the room inhabitants without the initials C.B. very uncomfortable. Darcy acknowledged for a moment that perhaps Charles was indeed quite the lucky man, that a depth of passion did reside beneath that simple woman's sweet smiles and congenial conversation.

Still without an answer for his performance, and only Caroline's to go, Darcy grabbed a copy of the sonnets on the table and flicked to a familiar number. Running his eyes over the words to commit the image to his memory, his desperate adjustment was interrupted when Caroline Bingley began to command attention.

"Like my brother, I too wish to dedicate my sonnet to someone very special in this room." Miss Bingley smiled as Darcy lifted up his head, feeling the other four staring at him. All color washed out of his face at Caroline's first lines:

"A woman's face, with nature's own hand painted, Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;"

Darcy faltered in his indifferent expression as Miss Elizabeth coughed, earning a glare from Miss Bingley. Darcy looked past the happy couple separating him from Elizabeth in the seating arrangement, but his chair was at least half turned so that he could see her without obstruction. His lovely Elizabeth struggled to keep her countenance as it was clear they both recognized the sonnet from the first lines, a lewd dedication to a man, as none other than number 20.

Caroline passionately rendered her superficial understanding of the sonnet, grinning ear to ear as she delivered the final line to a stunned silence.

"But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure, Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure."

Miss Bingley smiled and preened, awaiting the applause that scarcely came. Flustered, she furrowed her eyebrows until Miss Elizabeth dared to address her.

"Is that sonnet the one you practiced with Mr. Darcy this afternoon?"

Caroline rolled her eyes at her adversary. "I respected his wishes for a surprise, so I recited one that I memorized this morning as my first choice." Miss Bingley glanced back and forth between that upstart and Mr. Darcy, unsure of what she had done wrong. She had selected a sonnet that complimented a man's handsome features, how could Mr. Darcy not accept the compliment?

"Darcy? What sonnet do you have for us?" Mr. Bingley tried to move the proceedings along so that Caroline might sit down and let Darcy start.

"As you took my first choice, friend, I am forced to recall a sonnet that has been much on my mind lately." Darcy stood up and walked widely around Miss Bingley who did not leave the stage area until the man stood where he planned to begin. Caroline scowled as she took the chair next to Mr. Darcy's seat.

"As Miss Bennet and Charles have dedicated sonnets to each other, and we have had other dedications . . . " Darcy shook his head slightly at the unpalatable memory of Miss Bingley referring to his manhood via poem. "This sonnet is dedicated to a lady of great wit, who deserves more than what a mere mortal man may offer."

Caroline sat up taller in her chair, fully expecting Mr. Darcy's sonnet was dedicated to her. Elizabeth Bennet looked down at her hands in her lap.

"Take all my loves, my love, ye, take them all." Mr. Darcy's baritone voice floated richly through the air over the lines of Sonnet 40, forcing Elizabeth to look up and see he only had eyes for her. Her breath caught in her chest as she mouthed the sonnet along with him, feeling the pricks of tears in her eyes that such a romantic gesture might be directed at her.

"And yet love knows it is a greater grief to bear love's wrong than hate's known injury." Darcy smiled, breaking his serious demeanor as he spied his Elizabeth nodding slightly in agreement to his plea. Finishing with a grand finale, Darcy looked up at the ceiling to invoke his last line:

"Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows, Kill me with spites!" He paused, allowing his booming demand to rest in the air, then slowly he lowered his gaze to offer his Elizabeth a smoldering smirk.

"Yet we must not be foes."

Elizabeth could not help but join him in the last line, to the applause of both Jane and Mr. Bingley. Miss Bingley folded her arms and sulked as she realized Mr. Darcy did not look at her even once during his rendition.

As Elizabeth rose from her seat, she and Mr. Darcy shared a brief moment of quiet camaraderie. She took his meaning, or so Darcy hoped, as he took Elizabeth's seat on the settee for a front and center location for her sonnet, instead of the chair next to Miss Bingley.

"This should be exciting; Lizzie loves to play act." Jane bristled under the excitement of what was to come, having been witness to Elizabeth's extravagant monologues during rainy days at Longbourn in their youth.

"Oh dear, now I shall be sure to disappoint!" Elizabeth laughed merrily as Jane shook her head. Caroline began to speak, but her brother cut her off.

"Do not keep Miss Elizabeth waiting, it is her turn," Bingley nodded to his future sister and Elizabeth nodded back, also striking an elegant pose of her arm draped dramatically over her forehead and her body cheated to the side away from her audience.

"That time of year that thou mayst in me behold," Elizabeth's arm outstretched above her as she bent backward, her profile displaying the womanly curves she was blessed to possessed to great advantage. Her fingers fluttered as she brought her arm down, hunching over so that it hung limply before her. "When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold."

As Elizabeth shivered and continued to perform an elaborately artful movement to each line of her sonnet, Darcy wetted his parted lips with a slip of his tongue and squirmed in his seat. The woman twisted, turned, and at one point delivered her lines in a booming voice to the far wall! His imagination ran wild producing a cold sweat on his brow of the magical days and evenings the two of them might share at his estate in Derbyshire, two masterful minds of wit and charm.

"This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, to love that well which thou must leave ere long." Elizabeth delivered her last line straight as a stick, doleful, with her eyes on none other than Mr. Darcy.

As the loudest applause yet echoed in the room, Darcy crossed his legs as he considered her last line. Was Elizabeth saying that she lamented leaving Netherfield in the morning? Their earlier conversation had been cut short by Miss Bingley, and Darcy, too, felt desperate to rekindle the subject matter of their feelings for one another.

Caroline spoiled the triumph of Miss Elizabeth by immediately ordering a new game, barking orders at the footmen to hang a sheet.

"Caroline, what's this now? We've all performed as you have desired." Charles Bingley raised his eyebrow at his sister's sudden plans, plans she did not discuss with him at all.

"It's time for shadow pantomime! We have cards and must all try to guess what's being displayed on the other side!"

The room became darker as the majority of the candle light was moved to the opposing side of the hanging sheet from the chandeliers that had been half snuffed. Caroline took the first turn as the furniture too was rearranged to two chairs and the small sofa brought forward. With Jane and Charles taking the lover's seat, Darcy and Elizabeth took the chairs positioned very close to one another.

Caroline began her performance of some exotic bird to the laughs and cheers from Mr. Bingley and Jane. Darcy took the distraction and lowered light to his advantage. He deliberately brushed his bare hand against Elizabeth's as hers rested on the arm rest. To his surprise, when he returned his hand to his arm rest, he was greeted with a similar gesture just a few moments later when Mr. Bingley took his turn behind the sheet.

The two enjoyed this easy, imperceptible affection until it was Darcy's turn to perform. As the man leaned forward to accept a card from Miss Bingley on Jane's far side, he whispered a simple phrase to make Elizabeth's blood thump painfully in her ears from her quickened pulse.

"Gentle thief."

*****  
A/N I love it when the characters change things on you! Sonnet 40 is my all time favorite, I've performed it many times for school and in college. I hung out with the drama kids, though my major at university was Political Science. The BEST parties were always with people in theater, because I love to do improv etc! :) So it was funny to me that Mr. Bingley cheekily STOLE #116 and suddenly my Darcy was scrambling for a sonnet! :) The little things that happen as you're writing, deviating from the outline!

I hope you have your seat belts on. We're about to go for a loop!

XOXOXOXO  
Elizabeth Ann West


	26. Chapter 26

** A/N: For those who have NEVER read an EAW story before . . . when I say buckle the seat belts I mean it is time for my signature DRAMA. :) We are turning a corner in the story, but I promise the reunion of Darcy and Elizabeth will be ever that much sweeter when we get to THAT and if I've done my job correctly, you will swoon. :) And thank you for reading . . . the book comes out Thursday, and this weekend there is a launch party with 12 other JAFF authors giving away a ton of prizes. If you go to my profile here, you can find my Facebook page and a link to the launch party on A Lady's Facebook page will be there. Hope to see some of you there! ***

The excitement of their last night at Netherfield Park with sonnets and shadow games put the Bennet sisters in a good mood as they climbed the stairs to their rooms. Elizabeth farewelled Jane in the hall, knowing that the following night they would be back to sharing a room instead of enjoying elegant guest quarters in the most luxurious home in the county. Elizabeth was about to undress for the night, having released the pins in her hair and brushed out her locks when a distinct tap occurred on her door. Frozen with brush in hand, and staring at her reflection in the mirror, Elizabeth heard it again. A very distinct short tap on the door. Perplexed as to who could possibly be unable to knock, Elizabeth rose from the mirror and opened her door.

"Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth hissed with a frown on her face.

"I wondered if we might speak."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Right here in the hall?"

Darcy motioned with his hand that he might be let into a room. Elizabeth tilted her head and widened her eyes as far as they could go with an incredulous stare.

"Sir, you are mad. I wish you a good night."

Elizabeth stepped back from the door and began to close it, but Mr. Darcy's foot stopped the wooden portal's progress. Elizabeth looked down at his boot, back up at him, back down at his boot and softly squawked.

"I thought we were through with playing games," he whispered, firmly.

"This is not a game. If anyone catches you here we are both ruined."

Darcy smirked at Elizabeth's worry over something as silly as being forced to wed. That was the very outcome he was here to discuss.

"Elizabeth, you cannot brush your hands against mine and then pretend to not show interest in becoming my wife."

Elizabeth blinked. He smiled at her, but all she could do was blink again.

"Is this your proposal?"

Darcy's smile faltered. "Er, no, that is, I thought we should discuss—"

"You listen to me, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and listen closely. I have never been so abused by a man than yourself. I have forgiven your insults. I have allowed myself to feel emotions in your regard that you neither deserve nor return with proper behavior. I have demanded that you treat me like a gentleman ought . . ." She stomped her slippered foot and then regretted the action as it really hurt! "And yet you try to rendezvous with me in a most inappropriate manner? Good night, sir!"

"And this is your response? To shun me with your temper at every misstep. Why should I even bother with a woman who runs both hot and tepid in the same evening?"

"You should not. Indeed. I neither know you well, sir, nor do you know me. I suggest if in the morning you are still interested in your pursuit that you inquire with my father!"

Darcy removed his foot as Elizabeth closed the door, clenching it too tightly as she wished for nothing more than to slam it. But to do so would be a mistake, and she knew it. Agitated, she fumbled to lock the door for good measure then paced in her bedroom to release the nervous tension.

How dare the man ask to enter her rooms! What did he take her for? Stinging tears pricked the corners of her eyes as her logic and emotions all mixed into a flurry of chaos in her mind. She recalled the deliciously unsettling feelings every moment their hands touched in the drawing room. It was wanton, and forbidden, and she was so utterly wrong to have encouraged him. It was true what they warned, improper advances were always around the corner with just the slightest misstep by a young lady.

Feeling vulnerable, she did not undress for bed. She considered running to Jane's room, but for the first time in her grown life, she was not sure Jane would provide her comfort. Jane appeared to love Mr. Bingley body and soul, though her acquaintance too was of such a short time. Elizabeth hugged her arms to her person and settled beneath the covers, laying on her side to watch her door. On the morrow, they would be on their way home and she could forget all of the terrors of company at Netherfield as soon as possible.

***  
Oh it's about to get worse . . . before it gets oh so much better. :) Hang in there with me. HEA is guaranteed. At the end.


	27. Chapter 27

After a restless night and early breakfast, with a conspicuously absent Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth endured the sweet talking and surfeit of smiles between Jane and Mr. Bingley. It was not that she wished her sister less than the joy she was feeling, but Elizabeth's visit to the home could not compare with the elation of Jane's where she was leaving intended for Mr. Bingley.

Reviewing her conversation with the missing guest from the night before, Elizabeth could not help her curiosity.

"I have not seen your friend, Mr. Darcy, this morning, Mr. Bingley. Does he not usually take his meal in the earlier hours?"

Mr. Bingley paused in his attentions to Jane to address Elizabeth. "Darcy took a ride. He is much like I've heard you described by Jane, anxious to rejoin Nature after a long spell of being cooped indoors."

"Oh, well I hope the terrain treats him well."

"Mmm." Charles took a bite of his quiche and nodded, dismissing any further conversation with Elizabeth to look to Jane.

Elizabeth frowned and picked at her own meal with less gusto. Her appetite fled and her head began to ache. Mr. Darcy's remark about becoming his wife still rang in her ears—a frightening, exhilarating, and yet impossible notion all at the same time. What an odd sort of man he was, to so often stand stoically and silently in a room, but blurt out the strangest ideas when pressed.

"And she shook her hands like actual leaves—" Caroline's shrill voice faltered when she and Louisa Hurst entered the dining room to find their brother and both Bennet sisters sitting at the table. "Oh, good morning. I did not know you would still be here for the morning meal. I had instructed the carriages to be called first thing, I am sure you are most anxious to return home?"

"Caroline—" Bingley warned.

"As you have asked, I am happy to declare I am elated to return home and enjoy a properly kept house. You do an admirable attempt, Miss Bingley, but it's painfully obvious running a house this large is still out of range of your limited skills." Elizabeth dropped her fork with a clatter and released every pent up ounce of anger out of her breast, aimed fully at Miss Bingley.

"Lizzie!" Jane chastised as Caroline's face appeared to be in abject shock as she looked to her sister, Louisa, for a confirmation of the outrageous behavior.

"You do not need to pretend shock, Mr. Darcy is not present to see your petty playacting," Elizabeth muttered as she looked down at her plate, feeling tears tickling her nose with their threat of falling.

"If you have found your stay here to be so lacking, Miss Eliza," Caroline addressed her ungrateful guest as she glided to a chair next to Jane, "I wonder that you did not speak up before now. I fear what you're truly feeling is sour grapes, and the stinging bite of rejection that you had to have known would come when you were no longer to be a guest here."

"Caroline!"

"Please, do not scold her on my account, Mr. Bingley," Elizabeth said. "If we are to become family, you must accept that all sisters bicker at times." Elizabeth flashed Caroline a toothy smile, making the woman scowl in return. A fast moving shadow crossed the landscape in the windows behind Caroline and Elizabeth's eyes widened. Pushing herself from the table, she made her excuses. "Please excuse me, I shall finish my packing so that we might not tarry home."

As Elizabeth crossed the threshold to leave the dining room, she heard Caroline again begin to criticize her to the continued warnings from Charles to mind her tongue. Sighing over the undesirable prospect of becoming related to that woman, Elizabeth hurried up the stairs to avoid seeing Mr. Darcy at all costs. She knew she would eventually have to face him, but not until she knew her own mind and heart on the matter did she wish for the event to happen.

***  
A/N These chapters are not final copyedited and do NOT reflect the complete version that will be in the published version. I do ALWAYS put a link to the what IS published free to everyone on my mailing list. You can sign up for that on my website, listed in my profile. I am not sharing that to SELL anything to anyone, just that is how I handle distributing "publish ready" content. And it's free. :)


	28. Chapter 28

Chaos, confusion, and chatter greeted Jane and Elizabeth on their first steps into their home of Longbourn. Great fuss descended upon Jane by not just their mother, but also their two youngest sisters who interrogated Jane with all kinds of questions about Netherfield. Elizabeth stood in the entryway feeling relieved that they had all forgotten she was present at the home, too, and saw a great deal more than Jane, when a familiar voice called her name.

Elizabeth turned and rushed into her father's arms for a proper greeting, the man taken aback from the sudden show of emotion in his normally so steady daughter.

"Lizzie, Lizzie, you were only gone for a week. And but three miles down the road." Her father attempted to settle his daughter down to no avail.

"Oh, Papa, it was awful. Completely awful! Well, Jane had a lovely time once she was well, but I will leave her to tell you her news." Elizabeth followed her father into his study to find a squat, sweaty little man sitting in her favorite chair. Spying the intruder, Elizabeth's steps came up short and she forgot her manners to stop staring at the oddly faced man.

"Elizabeth, meet your cousin, William Collins, who is to inherit Longbourn after my death. Mr. Collins holds the living at a place called Rosewill—"

"Rosings, my dear cousin, Rosings. The home of the illustrious and magnanimous Lady Catherine de Bourgh." The stranger interrupted and corrected her father, an immediate poor first impression for Elizabeth's tastes.

"Yes, I do apologize. I was not aware the name of the estate was so dear to you." Mr. Bennet rolled his eyes to Elizabeth's stunted giggle before continuing. "Rosings, and he has paid us a visit to acquaint himself with the Bennet side of the family."

"And to select one of my fair cousins as my partner in life and sanctity in hopes of healing the breach between our two families with the olive branch of matrimony."

Elizabeth's stomach lurched as her father said nothing against Mr. Collins' bombastic declaration of claiming her or one of her sisters.

"Yes, well, a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Collins. I believe I shall see to my unpacking in my room." Elizabeth began to walk out when her father stopped her.

"Your items will still be there in a few hours. Sit, tell me about your visit. You say it was dreadful and I am all ears to hear of the foibles and follies of the London visitors." Mr. Bennet offered his daughter the chair on the other side of his desk, away from the window and Mr. Collins.

Obliged to obey her father, Elizabeth sat and began to heavily edit her recounting of the Netherfield Park inhabitants, much to her father's dismay. But as her cousin kept interjecting daft advice over every activity, such as how to best debone a roast duck when she spoke about one of the dinners, Elizabeth felt the interview better handled than the full truth she would offer if she and her father were in private.

"And the following day, Miss Bingley thought we should sketch Mr. Darcy—"

"Forgive me, but you keep referring to this Mr. Darcy, is he the same Mr. Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire?"

Her lips twisted in annoyance, Elizabeth nodded as an attempt to not snap at the puffed up peacock her cousin now resembled.

"Ho! Ho! He is the nephew of my esteemed patroness, Lady Catherine and betrothed to her daughter, Anne."

"Betrothed?" Elizabeth exclaimed, clamping her hands over her mouth at how odd her shout sounded. She gulped and restored a calmer demeanor. "I am surprised, I mean, as he made no mention of his cousin."

"Was there a conversation in which you would have expected him to discuss his future marriage plans, Elizabeth?" Her father asked his question in an amused tone, but his steely blue eyes flashed a protective spark towards his daughter.

Elizabeth chose her words carefully, knowing she was a terrible liar. "There was not one conversation in particular, no. I just, well, you will understand why I find it odd later once you speak with Jane." Elizabeth deflected further scrutiny with a weak smile.

Her father groaned. "I suspect that beau of hers, Bingley, will be here shortly?"

Elizabeth nodded, tucking her lower lip beneath her upper.

"Alright, then scamper off with you. I am certain you must have unpacking and other duties to see to." Elizabeth hopped up from her chair to peck her father on the cheek.

"My first order of business is a walk!" she exclaimed.

"Well, take Collins here with you, show him the gardens and the out buildings. You know my old legs are bothered with prolonged activity and I promised him once you were home, you were the great walker in the family to take him on his tour."

"Papa!" Elizabeth admonished her father's dismissal, not entirely keen on taking a cousin she had just met on a walk by herself. She would ask Mary to tag along, as Mr. Bingley, should be arriving soon she could not possibly ask Jane.

"I should be most delighted to take a stroll with you, Cousin Elizabeth." The squat, sweaty man suddenly began simply tall and fat when he stood a whole head higher than Elizabeth.

"I need to change my shoes, I wonder if you might wait for me in the parlor?"

"At your command, madam." The bumbling parson stumbled for a moment, unsure of what to do, and then he made a half bow. Elizabeth giggled at his awkwardness, earning a stern look from her father.

"Come along, Mr. Collins. After enduring four days of rain, I do not wish to wait a moment longer in case Mother Nature changes her mind about the day."

***

ACK! ACK! Poor Elizabeth! Hang in there, hang in there. She's going to eventually learn Mr. Collins is W-R-O-N-G. In the meantime, we can just all feel sorry for her, right? :)


	29. Chapter 29

The weather front that had trapped Elizabeth and Jane at Netherfield Park left the air chilled and gray, a common November afternoon for the English countryside. The Bennet gardens were a far cry from the illustrious blooms and vistas of colors they could boast at Summer's height. And with the company of Mary and her cousin, Collins, Elizabeth walked the paths and rows in a state of numbness.

How could Mr. Darcy be engaged in heart to another and never once speak of the matter to her? Is that what he had come to explain that night he had knocked on her door? Her conflicting thoughts about the handsome man from Derbyshire were incessantly interrupted by a barrage of questions from William Collins.

"I am so happy to have met you, cousin Elizabeth, and I did see briefly your elder sister, Jane, who appears to be very sweet and kind."

"Jane is all that is sweet and kind," Elizabeth said flatly.

"Oh, indeed, indeed. She reminds me of the daughter of my patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh."

Elizabeth smiled at the ridiculous way in which her cousin managed to say the lady's full name every chance he caught. Collins took his cousin's grin as a sign to continue expounding on Miss de Bourgh's virtues.

"Miss de Bourgh is very demure, but she does drive her phaeton and ponies past my humble cottage. It was Miss de Bourgh's suggestion to her mother that I ought to visit Longbourn and attempt a reconciliation with the Bennet side of the family."

Elizabeth's heart burned from the rise of bile in her system at the mere mention Mr. Darcy's future wife. And now it appeared to be the lady's fault her pompous cousin was suddenly foisted upon them in search for a mate, with no lack of vulgarity to his behavior. If Elizabeth had been in a kinder mood she might have wondered if this Miss de Bourgh was as aggravated by her cousin as she was and therefore quite clever to devise a way to send him away and procure a wife for his future distraction.

"What is the name of your cottage? I should love to hear more about your home." Mary Bennet attempted to direct Mr. Collins' attentions on her, but the bombastic man answered her questions adressed primarily to Elizabeth.

They had rounded the far corner when Elizabeth thought she might scream from hearing about every stick of furniture in the Hunsford cottage and what Lady Catherine had to say about each maker, design, and position. Mary Bennet, for her part, had encouraged Mr. Collins by reminding him to then speak about the grounds surrounding Rosings and Hunsford cottage.

Spying a single rider coming down the lane, Elizabeth held her breath as a late afternoon sun poured from behind the rider's back, obscuring his face. Mary nearly bumped into Elizabeth as she halted her steps and waited to see who the visitor might be.

As the horse trotted around the bend, the sun's position came more from the rider's side, and the cheerful disposition of Mr. Charles Bingley could be clearly made out by the party walking in the garden.

"You and Jane were correct that Mr. Bingley would come to call today. I should wonder why he would come to call so soon after you have left his home." Mary was often left out being the middle of five daughters. Where Jane and Elizabeth enjoyed their confidences, Kitty and Lydia, most assuredly enjoyed theirs. And the one in the middle, that's often forgotten, was none other than poor Mary.

"I suspect it quite obvious that Mr. Bingley visits with only one aim and that is to speak to father."

Mr. Collins cleared his throat but his voice came out in somewhat of a squeak. "The eldest Miss Bennet is so very soon to be engaged? If I am to catch your drift, that is, cousin Elizabeth."

Feeling a surge of jealousy and anger, Elizabeth channeled those snarling feelings into a fake smile and a hollow laugh of joy.

"Jane and Mr. Bingley are all that a couple could ever hope to be in a matching of minds, charity, and beauty. I was present to see their brief courtship, and I suspect our household will be a flurry of activity preparing for the wedding, a small inconvenience for your visit I'm afraid, Mr. Collins."

"They say weddings beget weddings, and a double wedding for two sisters should be very fine, indeed." Mr. Collins beamed at Elizabeth with a lopsided grin causing the lady to turn away as she made a face in disgust. But Mary Bennet happily smiled back at Mr. Collins and gently touched his arm to invite him to inspect another side of the garden.

Mr. Collins appeared confused for a moment as to how he might resist Miss Mary's invitation, but could find not a reason. As Elizabeth could see her father spying on them from the window of his study, Elizabeth pointed to Mary and Mr. Collins walking away from her and waved at her father. The old man in the window sighed but nodded, and that was all the encouragement Elizabeth needed.

Breaking off into a brisk step, the second eldest daughter of the Bennet family slipped from the gardens and headed towards her favorite place for a calm reflection. If she hurried, she would make it Oakham Mount for at least a quarter hour of peace before returning home before desk.

***  
A/N: Okay, I want to run away just like Elizabeth! :) Family members! What a nuisance!


	30. Chapter 30

Her first dinner back home at Longbourn included the rare inclusion of two gentlemen to the table. As Elizabeth sat in her customary seat next to her father, Jane had moved down so that Mr. Bingley might also sit next to Mr. Bennet, at the head of the table. Elizabeth merrily laughed and enjoyed the pleasant conversations with Jane and her beau. All parties agreed that afternoon Mr. Charles Bingley of London was to marry Miss Jane Margaret Bennet of Hertfordshire as soon as the banns could be read.

"But to marry by a special license, could you imagine, Mr. Bennet? I do not see why we should all have to wait for weeks and weeks when it is so plain. Mr. Bingley and our sweet Jane are simply made for each other." Mrs. Bennet continued her arguments from the afternoon to the dinner table, causing Elizabeth to slouch in her chair from embarrassment. She rather regretted Mr. Darcy did not come with Mr. Bingley to offer even so much as an explanation for his conduct towards her. Yet she also felt equally relieved that Mr. Darcy had not come to visit Longbourn and witnessed her family's crude manners over the alliance between Mr. Bingley and her sister Jane.

Mr. Bennet ignored his wife's comments for a moment and continued to eat his meal and sip his wine.

"Mr. Bennet?" Mrs. Bennet refused to relinquish her right to an answer for her query.

"For my part, I believe cousin Bennet's decision to not allow a wedding by special license a sound one. A young couple has much to reflect upon and learn about one another before taking vows in our great church and forsaking all others before the eyes of God. I have brought along with me a copy of Fordyce's sermons, and I should be happy to recite his feelings on the matter for the edification of my newly engaged cousin and her sisters after dinner." Mr. Collins accepted a bowl of potatoes from Mary, sitting on his right and heaped a healthy portion onto his plate before passing the vegetable to his cousin Elizabeth, on his left.

"I am ever so grateful for your approval, Collins." Lizzie's father said with a sardonic tone but Mr. Collins took it as a straightly meant compliment. "My dear, the reason I have rejected your insistence on a special license is by far a more practical reason than you have considered. Your first daughter is to be married from this house and I should think you would enjoy not just an engagement ball, but other festivities as appropriate for the location." Mr. Bennet smirked as Mrs. Bennet's eyes widened in excitement over his argument that she be afforded a healthy budget and portion to celebrate the marriage of her eldest daughter.

"A ball? You are truly to hold a ball, Mr. Bingley?"

Mr. Bingley gulped as he looked to Jane and sweetly clasped her hand for a gentle squeeze before releasing it. Elizabeth sighed at such a sign of affection, remembering the blissful warmth she had felt on the rare occasions her person touched Mr. Darcy's. But Elizabeth frowned just as quickly and remembered Mr. Darcy had never been hers, not truly. The man had played the cruelest game of all, and she was the fool for falling for his charms. A man of his status pretending complete ineptness in conversation, the veracity of such a personality trait for Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy seemed painfully obvious to be unlikely. She wondered how she had been so foolish as to believe the man's awkwardness.

As Mr. Bingley confirmed the ball and shared the date, the younger girls squealed in delight and then began arguing about all the purchases they would need to be ready for such an illustrious event of a ball held in Jane's honor. Elizabeth happily ignored the absurdity of her family when Mr. Collins leaned much too close to her person.

"I should wonder, cousin Elizabeth, if you do me the honor of the first two sets?"

Elizabeth's face paled as she turned to her cousin but leaned back so as to put some space between them. Just beyond Mr. Collins, Mary sat, looking crestfallen and Elizabeth felt saddened for her. Thinking quickly, Elizabeth came up with a solution, and smiled at her brilliance.

"Mr. Collins, my dear sister Jane and Mr. Bingley are certain to open the ball on the first set and I would be heartbroken to miss that first dance between them as a betrothed couple. I should be happy to accept another set from you later in the evening, but why do you not stand up with Mary, for the first two sets? You would be doing me an extreme kindness for I confess I am a sentimental sister."

"Oh, certainly, certainly. I should have considered your closeness to the eldest Miss Bennet would naturally endear you to see to her happiness." Mr. Collins turned in his other direction and haphazardly offered the same invitation to Mary, who readily accepted that any man would be willing to dance the first two sets with her.

The younger girls, Kitty and Lydia, began to argue about who they might dance with, when Mrs. Bennet reminded both of them with the militia in town, they were sure to be officers aplenty for this ball as there had not been at the assembly in the previous month.

Elizabeth ate the rest of her meal in peace as Mr. Collins and Mary talked quietly next to her. It was some time before her father leaned forward and congratulated her very softly on parrying an advance, but he still held a warning for his second eldest daughter.

"I am not so sure the hound will give up a fox for a mole."

Slanting her eyes that her father, as she worried that Mary might hear and understand his slight, Elizabeth asked if she might be excused since she had completed her dinner and wish to rest.

"No, Miss Lizzie, you shall join us in the parlor and help serve the tea. Jane cannot be expected to take on such a task."

"But Mama, I am truly exhausted and my head is beginning to hurt something fierce." Elizabeth was not lying about the second matter, finding herself a victim of too many conflicting thoughts and feelings fulfilling one moment in time that it would drive any person mad.

"Do not take me for a fool, you traipsed all about the countryside this afternoon, and I shall do your duty by your sister. If your headache should remain at the end of Mr. Bingley's visit, then I shall be the one to personally administer you a powder so you might rest." Mrs. Bennet rose from the table as dinner was complete and the few staff members of Longbourn would clear the table as the party moved into the parlor for Mr. Collins is recitation of Fordyce's sermons. Elizabeth looked to her father for help but he shrugged his shoulders.

"Give your mother some consideration, Lizzie. She is very likely overwhelmed and knows you possess the most sense among her daughters."

Allowing herself to be the second to last to leave the dining room, Elizabeth Bennet put on a brave face for the sake of Jane. It was not Jane's fault that Elizabeth was in such bad spirits. It was that rascal Mr. Darcy's fault, a man she resolved to neither think nor care about again.

****  
A/N: As the author, I wish I could go back to Netherfield! I just wrote the Hursts stuck in their room and only had to deal with five characters. A room full of 9 is a challenge, I assure you. :) Now, let's find out what silly-man Darcy was doing to be absent from this dinner . . .


	31. Chapter 31

It was quite late when Charles Bingley finally returned to Netherfield Park, having to enlist the aid of Mr. Bennet's carriage as he had never planned to also stay for dinner after meeting with the man. Surprisingly, Caroline pounced upon her brother almost as soon as he walked in.

"I was so worried about you, those Bennet held on to you for such a spell. It is rather unfashionable is it not, to invite someone for dinner the very evening it is to take place?"

Mr. Bingley was truly exhausted from his evening at the Bennet's, but not one ill word would pass about them to his sister. Besides, is not so much as the Bennets that taxes his patience but that cousin of theirs, Collins, who expounded and expounded upon the spiritual duties of a husband and wife to the point of twice the material of a church service.

"Unfashionable or no, I was delighted to accept the invitation to break bread with Jane's family. The die is cast, Caroline. We shall hold the ball in six days' time and I shall need you to complete the invitations tomorrow. Then we might deliver them in the afternoon.

"Six days? Why that is utterly ridiculous, Charles. I cannot do it." Caroline pursed her lips and shook her head. But her brother did not placate her petty tantrum as he would have in years past.

Instead, Charles used the rivalry between his sister and then Bennets to his advantage. "Yes, Mrs. Bennet did caution me that it was a great deal I was asking of my unmarried sister. She and her daughters are more than happy to come tomorrow first thing and help you and Louisa, I need only send a note."

Caroline fumed and attempted to yell at her brother, but the words would not come out. As Charles walked cheerfully to his study for one last look at his affairs before heading to bed, Caroline finally sputtered that she would not need any help from the Bennet family to plan a ball.

"I thought you might change your mind, sister. Good night." Charles Bingley abandoned Caroline to her own devices to open the door the study, startled to find his friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, dozing in his chair.

Charles closed the study door with more gusto than needed, so that the sharp sound of the door slam startled Darcy awake.

"Charles, thank goodness you returned. This is the only room in which Caroline would leave me in peace." Darcy reoriented himself as his own business papers lay scattered on the desk in front of him. Collating the letters from his sister and letters from his stewards and solicitors, Darcy tapped the papers against the desk into a neat pile and stood up from the proper place for Charles Bingley as master of the house.

"No, friend, there is no need to get up. I find I'm not really in the mood to review the figures for the accounts." Charles raised an eyebrow as Darcy looked relieved to be able to sit back down. "You know, I believe you would be far less vexed if you had simply come with me to Longbourn. I thought you and Elizabeth were well on your way to a similar understanding."

"I'm afraid I was mistaken in the lady's interests. She made it quite clear to me that no offer of mine would be welcome."

Bingley blinked and shook his head. "Are you certain she told you she would never accept your hand?"

Darcy scowled at Bingley, frustrated that a man four years his junior would question Darcy's ability to know his own business. But he would not reveal that he had visited Elizabeth on our last night in the home and provide proof—it was a confidence he would not share and risk the lady's reputation. "I can assure you she was quite plain."

Bingley shrugged and stretched with his arms wide above his head. Whatever new misunderstanding stood between his friend and Jane's sister would likely work itself out in due course as the two could not avoid each other between now and the ball. "Well I am knackered, if you plan to sleep in my study, I shall leave you to it." Bingley began to walk towards the door swiftly followed by his friend.

"Did she–"

Bingley turned and considered his friend for a moment prompting him to continue. "Did she, what?"

Darcy swallowed and asked his question of his friend in a very soft, contrite voice. "Did Miss Elizabeth mention me or ask about my absence?"

Charles took pity on his friend, but he would not lie. "I'm afraid she did not, but the evening was rather chaotic. Between the engagement announcement and the arrival of her cousin, the man who is set to inherit the estate I am to understand, she did not appear to be herself."

Darcy accepted the answer and followed his friend above stairs to retire for the evening. Unsure of why he was even remaining in Hertfordshire, other than to support Charles in his new connection and impending nuptials, Fitzwilliam Darcy accepted Arnold's help to undress for bed. And as he fell asleep in the grand four-poster bed, his dreams were fitful as his mind replayed variations of Elizabeth mocking him and rejecting him, over and over throughout the night.

***  
And there we have it, our dear couple is just miserable and it's their own making. More scenes tomorrow! :) XOXOXOX


	32. Chapter 32

Her second day at home allowed Elizabeth to fall back into her familiar routine. Coming in from her morning walk, she found the dining room held her entire family, plus Mr. Collins. Feeling guilty as she took her normal seat, Elizabeth wondered if she had taken too long in her morning constitutional when discussion arose between her mother and her two younger sisters.

"But it's not fair, Lizzie and Jane already went to Netherfield. Why should Miss Bingley only invite you and Jane for tea, and not the rest of us?" Lydia whined.

"Tis a better thing she did not invite all of us. No, no, this is Miss Bingley's opportunity to know Jane better, and I'm counting on you, Kitty, and Lizzie to find the best ribbons and shoe flowers in Meryton. Invitations for the ball shall surely go out this afternoon, it is of vital importance that you girls look the best. For Jane's sake." Mrs. Bennet smiled with the power of a thousand candles at her eldest daughter who looked down from the attention.

"You know I abhor shopping. Do Kitty and Lydia really need my supervision to go into Meryton?" Elizabeth asked in earnest as she suddenly found herself quite ravenous from days of little eating and her first day of routine activity.

Mr. Bennet flopped his paper down to address his daughter. "Yes, I insist upon it. And take Mr. Collins and Mary with you as well. They could use the exercise."

"Papa, I was hoping to ask Mr. Collins to discuss the particulars of a few sermons I have trouble with." Mary used up all of her courage to speak up, leaving none at all to look her father or Mr. Collins in the eye as she made her request.

"I should be delighted to visit this Meryton. And perhaps this afternoon, Cousin Elizabeth could join us, Cousin Mary, in reading sermons."

"No, I'm afraid I cannot possibly. I do not enjoy studying Scripture and sermons like Mary, they are her forte." Elizabeth stated.

"Then we shall set aside the Scripture for one day and I am happy to hear of a hobby you enjoy. Cards? The weather appears fine, we might stroll in the gardens again." Mr. Collins appeared to sound sensible, but his one moment of polite discourse became marred by a nasally hacking of phlegm for an exaggerated spell of time.

"I really should spend the afternoon with my father. I am certain there are accounts and correspondence he would like for me to accomplish. Papa?" Elizabeth looked to her father for support, and he nodded his head, winking at his daughter.

"Indeed, indeed, the clerical work piled up knee high whilst you were gone, traipsing about in some big house."

Mr. Collins coughed. "Forgive me, but I must not have heard you clearly. Are you to mean you do sums and provide your father with the work of a secretary?"

Elizabeth jutted out her chin, prepared to offend her bumbling oaf of a cousin. "You ask such a question when you already know the answer. Shall you truly offend your host and family with critique?"

Collins squinted his eyes and wiggled in his chair as he felt conflicted. Lady Catherine was quite clear for him to stay away from any bluestockings or heavily impresses that a parsons wife ought to be demure, obedient. His cousin Elizabeth was none of the later, much of the former, but to him, the most pleasing daughter to look at next to the eldest, Jane, who was already spoken for. "Lady Catherine is most particular in how she believes a young lady is to comport herself and be raised. I am afraid she would not approve of such pastimes of accounting and writing letters of business. No, letters of conversation, if a lady writes well, are a triumph. But to write the letters a gentleman should, yes, that is too far, I should think."

Mr. Bennet stood from the table and lifted his coffee cup to take with him. "Mr. Collins, I do not take offense at your sentiments, after all, I can hardly scold a man incapable of original thought of his own. Feel free to send along my apologies to your esteemed Lady Catherine, meanwhile enjoy Meryton, you lot. If anyone needs me, I shall be in my study."

The rest of the breakfast meal continued with little more than mundane discussion until near the end, Jane took an opportunity to corner Elizabeth about Mr. Darcy.

"This afternoon, shall I send your regards to Mr. Darcy if I should see him at Netherfield?"

"Mr. Darcy?" Elizabeth sputtered to get the name out, frustrated her vow to never think or speak of the man again was already broken less than twelve hours after it was made. "No, don't. He's a busy man and he hardly needs to be bothered with regards from a mere acquaintance."

"Busy man? Lizzie where do you come up with these assumptions of yours. I am sure Mr. Darcy would be happy to hear you send your regards." Jane wondered about her sister's odd reaction, as it appeared to lend credit to Mr. Bingley's concern something occurred between the two of them when his friend refused to join his call yesterday.

"Jane, please. I don not wish to send any message of any kind to Mr. Darcy. He shall be fine without my regards, and I am sure I shall be fine not sending any." Elizabeth pushed up from the table and excused herself to above stairs to prepare to leave for Meryton. One day she would have to tell Jane all about her strange and utterly false courtship with Mr. Darcy, but not today.

****  
The book is coming out tomorrow! I am so excited! Review copies will likely go out tomorrow to the mailing list in the afternoon. And don't forget the launch party on Facebook, lots of free books and prizes from other authors in the genre :) events/1679266455657357/

It's on /aladyjaneausten


	33. Chapter 33

The walk to Meryton allowed Elizabeth to forget her troubles for a brief time and answer Mr. Collins' numerous questions about the surrounding countryside. Every house had to be explained by the inhabitants in it, every cross road examined for where it lead.

"And this lane? When the post-chaise brought me from London I confess I did not pay too much mind as I only prayed for the wheels to not get stuck another time." Mr. Collins shuddered over the dirty business it was to help push the mammoth vehicle out of every rut of mud.

"La, that's the road to Lucas Lodge. Charlotte Lucas is Lizzie's good friend and her sister, Mariah, is mine." Lydia said as she kicked a pebble down the road in front of them.

"Mariah is more my friend than yours," Kitty bickered.

"She is not, she is my dearest friend and only comes to our home to talk about fashions with me." Lydia stuck her tongue out at her sister before Elizabeth intervened.

"I do not care what Mama has charged us with, if you two cannot comport yourself we will turn around and go home." Elizabeth purposely increased her gait so as to walk in between Lydia and Kitty to stop the squabbling while Mary remained behind with Mr. Collins.

"But she started it, always claiming everything is about her!" Kitty pouted.

"Oh, Kitty, be the older sister. If Lydia is behaving as a child, do not lower yourself to her level." Elizabeth offered gently, glaring at Lydia who suddenly did not like being described as childish. A young woman of fifteen, Lydia resented mightily her position as the youngest of five daughters and fought fiercely for any and all attention she might gather.

"Cousin Lydia, how do you enjoy church services in Meryton? I assume the parish is well lead?"

Lydia wrinkled her nose at her parson cousin. "The bonnets are always the most fresh each Sunday, as nearly everyone who is anyone, reworks their bonnets for new trimmings during the week. I have a lovely ribbon of sky blue to trim my bonnet for next week's service, and I hope to find a sprig of flowers to match!"

William Collins furrowed his brow, confused by the vapid response by his younger cousin who equated church with fashion observing. "But surely the sermons and hymns speak to you and bring you closer to our Heavenly Father for the week ahead."

Lydia shrugged. "I suppose, but most of the talk baffles me to no end so I just as soon ignore it than be vexed by it."

As Mr. Collins appeared taken aback, Elizabeth rolled her eyes and attempted to repair the poor impression her sisters were giving the man. "My youngest sister often says things she does not mean to get a rise out of someone. She is a natural instigator, your best course of action is to ignore the behavior."

"I am all astonishment that your parents would allow such an immature lady to be considered appropriate for grown company. To say she ignores her church services! Why Lady Catherine would be appalled by such blasphemy!"

Further discussion about the role of weekly church attendance in a lady's life was cut short as they neared the edge of Meryton and the younger girls skipped ahead, spying a regiment of officers marching in formation in the distance on the green.

"Girls! Lydia! Kitty! Do not run!"

Both sisters looked over their shoulders at Elizabeth, giggled, and hurried on. Not wishing to be stuck alone with Mr. Collins and Mary, Elizabeth giggled herself.

"Come on, Mr. Collins. Mary! We'd better quicken our pace!" Elizabeth took to a swifter step, enjoying the freedom of such a speed, leaving the fat and slow Mr. Collins behind her. She hoped Mary would thank her for giving her some time alone with their cousin since she appeared to be the only sister with a mind to enjoy such a situation.

Elizabeth reached her youngest sisters in a thrice, being a great walker on a daily basis and not only when she fancied new ribbons. The girls stopped when they recognized their Aunt Phillips standing and talking to two young officers on the walk outside the butcher.

"And as I was just telling you gentleman, I am the proud aunt of five lovely nieces, and here three of them appear!" Aunt Phillips greeted Elizabeth, Lydia, and Kitty, introducing them to a Lieutenant Denny and Lieutenant Wickham. Denny was not much to look at, slightly a few inches taller than Kitty with dark features. But Lieutenant Wickham wore his uniform with an air of superiority one is either born possessing or spends a lifetime attempting to learn. His blue eyes, sandy brown hair, and commanding presence wasted no time in locking on the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet.

"Aunt, there is to be a ball! Mr. Bingley is—"

"Lydia, the invitations have not yet gone out," Elizabeth scolded in a hoarse whisper.

"Leave off, Lizzie! Jane is to marry Mr. Bingley and he is throwing a ball. Everyone shall be invited, it will be an absolute credit to the countryside!"

"How lovely, a ball! And Jane is engaged? I had not heard from Franny," Aunt Philips frowned, but Elizabeth set her right again.

"Mama has not yet told anyone, the engagement was just announced last night at dinner. She and Jane are to take tea at Netherfield this afternoon, and we are sent for provisions."

"Ah, yes, I suspect with the prospect of a ball, all of the young ladies will soon be shopping for the latest accessories and accoutrements." Lieutenant Denny addressed his observation to Kitty, who could only blush and giggle.

Mr. Collins reached the group, huffing and puffing, and producing an inordinate amount of sweat. Mary appeared unaffected by the brief exercise. As he stood too close to Elizabeth, the faint whiff of his personal odor reached her nose, causing her to step to her side and nearly bump into Mr. Wickham.

"Forgive me," she said, looking up at the tall man's face who could only offer her kind eyes in return.

"There is nothing to forgive. One cannot hold a grudge against everyone who nearly bumps into their person, what would the world come to?"

Elizabeth laughed in spite of herself, then stopped as she realized she might appear to be flirting. But something about the easy manners and face of Mr. Wickham seemed so refreshing after tangles with the liar, Mr. Darcy and the odious, Mr. Collins.

When Lydia announced that they should begin shopping, with Lieutenants Denny and Wickham offering to accompany them, the ladies plus Mr. Collins began to farewell Aunt Phillips.

"Oh, before I forget. I want you all to come to my house this evening for a game of cards. I've invited the Lucases already and insist on my parlor being filled with the verve and vitality of young people. Say you'll come and bring Jane as well!"

"Will you invite Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley as well? Look, there they are!" Lydia pointed to the two great men just entering town on horseback. Spying the familiar party of Bennets and friends, Mr. Bingley happily trotted his horse over and Mr. Darcy's horse remained somewhat slower to approach.

"What a lovely, I say, lovely day! Never in my life have I seen the weather change so drastically on such a whim." Mr. Binlgey continued his effusions and greetings to the party at large as Elizabeth could not help but smile at the poor man giddy in love.

"Mr. Bingley, make sure you invite the officers to your ball. Why we've just met Lieutenants Denny and Wickham who have agreed to join us on our mission from Mama!" Lydia sang her demand in a non-threatening way, thus reducing the abject rudeness of inviting people to another person's ball in front of all parties involved.

"Certainly, they should come. I am extending the invitation to all of Meryton!"

Elizabeth eyes opened wide as Mr. Bingley appeared to genuinely mean all of Meryton, but then she considered with his father being in trade, there was unlikely to be a prejudice against the middle class of a small, market town.

Behind her, Elizabeth felt Mr. Wikcham slowly move away from her as Mr. Darcy approached the group. Another round of curtsies and bows commenced, and Elizabeth refused to look up at the man who might very well push her to tears in that very minute if she was not careful.

"You are looking quite well, today, Miss Elizabeth," Mr. Darcy offered.

"Thank you, sir." Still, she could not look him in the eye and her heart raced as a sudden desire to flee the area set upon her nerves. "Mr. Wickham, would you join me in this shop? I should like to look for a new pair of slippers for the ball."

Lydia butted in to join Elizabeth and Wickham, which meant that Kitty and Denny joined as well. Mary and Collins remained out of doors to remain speaking with Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley, and Aunt Phillips.

Once inside the darker shop, Elizabeth's eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting as Mrs. Pilkington came forward to wait upon their needs.

"Did I hear correctly, just outside, there is to be a ball?" The plump and friendly Mr.s Pilkington complimented her most true customers and asked for the latest gossip she had already overheard.

"Yes! Jane is to marry Mr. Bingley and a grand ball is being held in her honor!" Lydia swooned. "I wish I might marry a man who would throw a ball in my honor."

As Mrs. Pilkington encouraged the theatrics and ego of Lydia Bennet in an attempt to sell even more of her ladies' accessories, Elizabeth addressed Mr. Wickham.

"And now that you are aware of the ball, do you think your superiors will allow the militia officers to join us in our night of merrymaking?" Elizabeth asked, earnestly, remembering she was indeed available for the first two sets.

"How long has Mr. Darcy been in residence with your sister's intended, Mr. Bingley? I take it he is staying at the estate?" Mr. Wickham perused an array of fancy buttons and hair pins in a case to his right as he asked his harmless question.

"Forgive my impertinence, but do you know Mr. Darcy from a previous encounter?" Elizabeth frowned as something about the smooth manner in which Mr. Wickham deflected her question and asked for a deeply personal piece of gossip in return. Unfortunately, Lydia distracted Elizabeth with requests for fund stop pay for the many purchases she and Kitty selected outside of the scope their mother gave them. As Elizabeth began to argue, Lieutenant Denny announced that he and Mr. Wickham must return to the regiment and they exited the shop as Mary and Mr. Collins entered.

By the time all of the purchases were negotiated and made, with an enormous amount on unhelpful advice from Mr. Collins, both Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy were not to be found as the party walked home. Kitty and Lydia skipped with high energy, swinging the proof of their purchases with their arms with gay indifference to their duller sisters. Mary walked with Mr. Collins, trying to engage the man in conversation to no avail. And Elizabeth counted her steps to keep her mind clear of any thoughts about Mr. Darcy or Mr. Wickham and which man's smile disconcerted her more.

*****  
And here is where the whole story goes OFF SCRIPT. But I think you will looooove the next scene.


	34. Chapter 34

When Elizabeth arrived home from Meryton with her sisters and cousin, an odd sort of energy seemed to fill the house. It was quiet. Too quiet. The younger girls began to flit and talk about their purchases as Mary finally gave up talking with Mr. Collins and opened the piano. Remembering she was to escape Mr. Collins by aiding her father, she knocked and opened the door of her father's study when he answered.

"We saw Aunt Phillips in town—" Elizabeth's words faltered when yet another man sat in her favorite chair by the window, none other than Mr. Darcy! "What are you doing here?"

"Lizzie! Mr. Darcy has come to call upon me and share some interesting news about your visit to Meryton. Did you and your sisters engaged with two militia officers during your excursion?"

Elizabeth slanted her eyes at her nemesis, the proud and haughty Mr. Darcy who would dare to come behind her back and tattle to her father. "We were introduced to them by Aunt Phillips."

"And was one of the men a Mr. George Wickham?"

Elizabeth nodded, watching Mr. Darcy's doleful face suddenly appear angry at the man's mention, only to dissipate once more. "Yes, he was perfectly amiable and quite the gentleman in his regards."

"You are to never speak to him without my presence."

"Papa! But we are to play cards at Aunt Phillips' tonight! And she has invited the officers."

Mr. Bennet picked up his quill and scratched a few lines on a piece of paper. "Then you will not be going to the card game and I shall send word to your aunt."

Elizabeth turned on her father's guest and accused him of interfering. "This is your doing. What, if I am not simpering at your feet I must be barred from any other man I might speak with? Will you have my father cast out my cousin as well? He seems quite keen to make an alliance."

Mr. Darcy's sad expression returned as her father admonished her for her outburst, a rare occurrence for both father and daughter.

"I am sorry, Father. But Mr. Darcy is not a man I would trust in any regard." Elizabeth glared at the man in the chair before her, seeing his face change to one of pain at her words.

"I see that Wickham's lies have already begun to be spread. No matter what he told you about me, I have offered your father evidence that my accounts of our dealings to be the truth." Mr. Darcy offered Elizabeth a patronizing excuse for her behavior.

Elizabeth put her hands on her hips and scoffed at Mr. Darcy's dismissal. "Mr. Wickham said not a word about your past dealings with him. I am calling out that in all of our conversations and interactions, you, sir, failed to mention you were betrothed to your cousin, Miss Anne de Bourgh."

Mr. Bennet for his part, leaned back in his chair and thoroughly enjoyed the battle of wits before him, wondering what on earth had stirred his Lizzie's passions so deeply. Many a boy had teased her for her ways, but a stranger from London refuses to dance a set with her and her hatred and vitriol grossly exceeded what should have been the normal weight of the slight.

"And what conversation and interactions have you had with this man, Elizabeth?" Mr. Bennet chose to throw a log on the fire to see further cackling and pops.

Elizabeth stuttered, looking to her father and back at Mr. Darcy, and back to her father once more. "We, that is, Mr. Darcy and I . . . " Her eyes fell to the chess board behind the visitor, sitting on a shelf out of the way. "We played a game of chess, father. Two actually."

"Two? And what was the score?"

"One to one, sir." Mr. Darcy answered tersely.

"Well, then you two are due a rematch." Mr. Bennet moved to get the set from the shelf but his daughter stopped his progress.

"I will not play another game with this man. He is a liar and a cad. I once enjoyed his compliments, but now they remind of an ungrateful thief."

Mr. Darcy stood, his full height scaring Lizzie none. "Ungrateful? Ungrateful? I have followed your every command, my lady, and still never quite meeting the ever highly placed bar of Miss Elizabeth Bennet."

"Enough!" Mr. Bennet raised his voice so that both young people remembered he was indeed, still in the room. Both of them breathing hard as a result of their anger, Mr. Bennet commanded a silence in the room until he watched them both calm down before he spoke again. "Elizabeth (middle name) Bennet, explain to me right now why you call this man a cad and a liar, and be direct, young lady, or you will find many of your freedoms suddenly curtailed in my household."

The tone of her father's voice did scare Elizabeth, as it was a register of his voice she had never heard. Not when she had ripped petticoats by climbing trees, not when she stole from the kitchens, not even the time she lost track of time and came home from a walk after dark. Swallowing the pool of saliva threatening to choke her where she stood, she finally began.

"I began a game of chess with Mr. Darcy, not knowing it was him. Then when he did learn it was me, he spoke about his cousin's marriage being a trap laid by the young woman and in other conversations made note of my lack of dowry. Then he suggested we spend afternoons playing chess at Pemberley, which I took to mean he wished me as a mistress, just as you have warned me that rich men do."

"I did not ever intend—"

"Patience, sir, you too, shall get your say." Mr. Bennet held up his hand. "Continue."

Elizabeth took another deep breath. "So Jane told me to see a better side to Mr. Darcy and I did. I enjoyed dancing with him the following afternoon and we even played another game, this time, face-to-face and he won. But then, the more I came to find myself alone with him, the more confused I became. He disliked me the first he set eyes on me. And then, the last night, the last night he . . ."

Mr. Bennet leaned forward upon his desk, dreading his daughter's next words, fearing the worst.

"He came to my room and wished to talk, but I sent him away. He said he wished to speak about becoming his wife but I told him he should never speak to me again until he . . ." Elizabeth suddenly realized what Mr. Darcy meant about following her every command and looked at the man she had just called the most vile names.

"Until he what, Elizabeth?" Mr. Bennet prompted.

"Until he spoke to my father," she whispered.

"Mr. Bennet, sir, I can explain, though some of the situations are difficult to fully explain —"

Once more Darcy was silenced but a swish of Mr. Bennet's hand and being a visitor in the man's home, the great Fitzwilliam Darcy worth multiples of the man before him, stopped talking.

Mr. Bennet leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin. "And what is your opinion of Mr. Darcy, now? Do you like the man?"

Elizabeth shook such a direct question by her father in front of the subject himself, too embarrassed to answer.

"Lizzie, it is not an optional question."

Slowly Elizabeth nodded but then shook her head, but then nodded again, eliciting a deep laugh from her father.

"Ever true to your sex. Fine, that will suffice. Now, you sir, are you betrothed to this cousin in Kent?"

"No." Mr. Darcy frowned as he had been promised to share his side of the story, but appeared to only be getting an interrogation from a man more keen to mock his daughter and his guest than attempt a peaceful resolution.

"And you did not propose to my daughter like a suitor ought? Nor come to me before embarking on this haphazard sham of a romance?"

"It was raining, torrential downpours as it were," Mr. Darcy reminded Elizabeth's father.

"Careful, sir," Mr. Bennet wagged his finger at the man, "or you will insult me with a claim that my daughter is not worth a small amount of water for the sake of claiming her honor."

Mr. Darcy's eyes flicked to Elizabeth as he noticed a small smirk on her face. Suddenly, it became apparent to Mr. Darcy where his Elizabeth learned to find double and treble meaning in the words when none were intended.

"So back to the salient points, did you formally offer your hand to my daughter?" Mr. Bennet asked his question in a light-hearted tone, but his direct eye contact with Mr. Darcy belied a very serious intention behind the query.

"I did not, yet. At least not as I should."

"Good! Then we are all in agreement." Mr. Bennet clapped his hands and rubbed them together. Elizabeth startled at the sound, but remained curious as to what conclusion, exactly, they had somehow all derived.

"No, father, Mr. Darcy and I can never seem to agree on anything, that is the problem. I do try to be as kind as I should, but I find my anger rises on every alternate occasion on which we speak!" Elizabeth looked to Mr. Darcy with a slight frown of regret for being so honest, but it was the truth.

Mr. Bennet waved his hand at his daughter's concern. "My dear, you will soon understand your behavior much better than I can explain it to you. As you are clearly enamored with this man, whether you wish to admit so or not to him or myself, and he is clearly keen on winning your hand, I see little choice but to accept that my eldest daughter is engaged and my second-eldest daughter is courting."

"But, but he has not—" Elizabeth began to speak but Mr. Darcy caught Mr. Bennet's drift when he tilted his head sharply towards his daughter and then found something enormously interesting to inspect on a shelf behind his chair.

Darcy reached down and clasped Elizabeth's hands, the same hands just days before he had seen injured in his clumsiness. "Miss Elizabeth, please, I beg that you end my suffering, and I suspect a small amount of your own, and accept my humble request to address you as a gentleman should, with the permissions of you, your parents, and your family."

The deep chasms of emotion that captured Elizabeth's eyes every time this man looked at her stopped the negative reply she meant to give in her throat. She needed to come to know this man, and she needed to know she would be granted that time.

"Do you promise to give me time, sir, to fully know who you are and how we might find a happy future together?" Elizabeth asked her question earnestly, she did not want Mr. Darcy to again think she was certain of him when she was absolutely not.

"Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. Or bends with the remover to remove." Mr. Darcy recited gallantly, a couplet from his preferred sonnet.

Elizabeth giggled at the sweet dimples in the man's cheek as he offered a warm smile to boast his cleverness. "I'm afraid Shakespeare is one of the reasons we ended up in this mess in the first place. I ask you to speak plainly, sir."

"I promise to give you all of the time you might require, Miss Elizabeth. And if I should propose a marriage in too soon of a time than you shall require, then I shall accept your rejection and offer you more time to consider my suit." Mr. Darcy mimicked Elizabeth's penchant for deadpan delivery of ridiculous explanations.

Elizabeth gently squeezed Mr. Darcy's hands, a sign of affection that surprised him and sent a shiver of delight down his spine. "Well then, it would appear that I cannot be rid of you. Father?"

"What, oh yes, daughter?" Mr. Bennet could not help but beam at the young couple before him who would surely find their way if their tempers and tongues stayed out of the fray.

"I accept Mr. Darcy's request for a courtship. But may we keep the details from Mama unless the status changes?" Elizabeth smiled mischievously, though her father noticed she still held Mr. Darcy's hands.

"I believe you ought to go tell your mother to add another for dinner, and I shall discuss a few finer points with this Mr. Darcy of yours."

Elizabeth felt a sudden wave of melancholy as she had to drop Mr. Darcy's hands and leave him in her father's study. Perhaps it was the finality of accepting the man's suit, but in her heart she did not feel the burden of confusion lingering any longer to shoot daggers of doubt.

Once Elizabeth left, Mr. Bennet began his conversation with Fitzwilliam to make clear that it was true none of the Bennet women possessed dowries of significant means.

"My wife needs to bring nothing to our marriage but a good heart and a love for me. I am guardian to my younger sister, but apart from that, my extensive holdings both here and abroad would make her want for nothing."

"I am happy to hear that, though I will tell you the same as I told Bingley. I will not request the banns be read without signing a full marriage contract."

Mr. Darcy nodded slowly at the sudden shrewd business sense coming from a man who played a very convincing laissez-faire master and patriarch. His host opened a side cupboard and retrieved a decanter and two glasses, pouring both of them a healthy dose.

"Now, begin with your insult at the assembly and walk me through your interactions with my daughter until this day. I so dearly love to laugh." Mr. Bennet made good on his promise to give Darcy a chance to tell his side of the story. And without further prompting, the younger man provided a whole year's worth of folly and mirth over a mere month long acquaintance.

I am very proud of this scene and it was 100% not planned to go this way. But it's a scene that I would just to have been sitting there watching, or to see it in a movie! :) And I love, love, love the rascalness of Mr. Bennet! He's too clever for his own good!


	35. Chapter 35

**I am so very, very thankful for all of the readers who have read along to this story! Each person who left a review is acknowledged and thanked in the back of the published ebook going live right now. It's already live on Amazon, and should be up on Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and Google by the end of the weekend. All of you have given me such a wonderful experience on , I have told many other author friends to come join us over here, and will start giving you a new story sometime later next week.**

Don't forget the LAUNCH PARTY is happening this weekend on Facebook on /aladyjaneausten There are lots of prizes and fun going on!

 _XOXOXO_  
 _Elizabeth Ann West_

Now, the chapters will be MUCH longer as I will be posting 4 more to give you the ending of the story! Thank you again soooo much!

Not two days' time from when she had vowed to herself never to think nor care about Mr. Darcy again, Elizabeth Bennet walked with a spring in her step to see the man off on a mission to London with his closest friend. Both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley endured a family dinner at Longbourn the previous night, subjected to the hysterics of Mrs. Bennet over how comfortable her eldest daughter lay situated for matrimony. Elizabeth thanked her father in her mind and by glance more than once that for now, at least, her relationship to Mr. Darcy was not known to the whole family, including her mother.

Still, Elizabeth realized it was a forgone conclusion she and Mr. Darcy would eventually wed, as even she agreed with her father it was prudent he should join Bingley on a quest for a contract to avoid a solo trip at some later time.

"And will you bring your sister back with you from London?" Elizabeth asked earnestly, finding herself quite curious to meet Miss Georgiana after the many effusions of Miss Bingley about the young lady.

Darcy frowned. "I am afraid it is not possible. I do not believe Hertfordshire would suit her."

The hackles of Elizabeth's previous prejudices began to raise but this time, she caught herself thinking the worst of Mr. Darcy before allowing herself to think better of the man. "Before I jump to conclusions, you are passing a mean judgment on my family or home county, could you elaborate on the shortcomings you find detrimental to your sister?"

Darcy raised his brows, surprised once again his blunt honesty offended Elizabeth, but sighed in relief she was suspending her ire until he might explain his declaration. "Your father has banned you from being in Mr. Wickham's company without chaperone, and while I cannot betray the young woman's identity, it is because he is a known seducer and I will not risk my sister's exposure to the man."

Mr. Darcy's face appeared pained and Elizabeth suppressed her desire to to know more about the horrific past with Mr. Wickham. Instead, she attempted to lighten the mood, reminding herself she trusted her father and he had heard the evidence she had not. "Is the lady he targeted well? He is clearly unmarried. I hope she was protected by her family, or taken in by them if a disgrace occurred?"

Darcy nodded. "She is perfectly well and the worst was averted. Forgive me, but I must request we change the subject matter if it pleases you, I should not like to ride in a carriage to London in a foul mood over past transgressions."

Elizabeth suddenly remembered about the ball and that all of the officers were invited. "Oh, but what about the ball? Mr. Wickham will be present!"

Mr. Darcy took her hand as a surge of comfort coursed through his body. "That you would fret over him upsetting me is quite an alteration, and I believe I may hang hope upon it." A short smile revealed Darcy's dimples to Elizabeth before he then became the one to reassure his intended. "Fret not for I have sent a letter to Colonel Forster, referencing my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, for character and reinforcement. Just this morning, a reply came by messenger that Mr. Wickham's commission would be rejected as an unsuitable stand-in for the poor soul he conned into paying him for such a commitment."

Elizabeth looked past Mr. Darcy to spy Jane and Mr. Bingley in a close conversation as the horses rigged for travel stomped their feet nervously, ready to trot upon the road. "So if Mr. Wickham is to be removed from the area, why again may your sister not join us?" Elizabeth asked, looking back up at Mr. Darcy to find a reaction she did not enjoy. The man's face appeared blank, dumbfounded as when she had declared 'checkmate' over his King. "Tis true! You do not think my family and neighbors suitable for your sister's society!"

"No, I have other reasons, primarily the presence of Mr. Wickham—"

"But you said so yourself, he will be leaving! If you have some other reason for me to not meet your sister . . ."

Darcy frowned.

"I believe while you are on your trip to London you should carefully inspect what reasons you have for marrying me, sir, if my family embarrasses you so." Elizabeth looked down bitterly at the ground to see her toes wiggle against the constraints of the satin fabric making up her slippers.

"My reasons are sound and have nothing to do with your family."

Jane and Bingley suddenly approached the ever-quarreling couple with bright smiles. "We have selected a date! Three Mondays before Christmas shall be our wedding!"

"How happy for you! But will the banns be read in York in time for such a date so soon?" Elizabeth asked.

Mr. Bingley turned red as he explained that despite what Mr. Bennet wished, they would marry by license. "Jane and I have decided to marry as soon as we are able and as she is of an age to determine, it is I who shall bear the brunt of Mr. Bennet's disappointment." Mr. Bingley laughed, but Jane placed a hand upon his arm.

"No, I shall speak to my father. I do not wish to make such a fuss as Mama would like, and selfishly, I wish for a quiet ceremony and breakfast with our closest friends."

Elizabeth nodded at the sense Jane made, then realized there was indeed no pressure for her to accept Mr. Darcy for a double wedding. The timing of Jane's wishes would not permit such an event.

"It is time we are away if we are to make your townhouse before supper, Darcy." Mr. Bingley hurried their schedule as he and Jane had already made their sweet farewells.

Mr. Darcy bowed before Elizabeth, who curtsied. "Please consider carefully where my sister would reside, should I bring her to the ball that she cannot join, as she is not presented to society, yet. And believe you will be able to deduce more of my reasoning as to why I think you will happily meet her in other circumstances."

"As you wish, Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth curtsied again, stifling a laugh as she immediately grasped Mr. Darcy did not wish to subject his sister to Caroline, the same woman who tagged along for the farewells but was ushered at once indoors by their mother.

The gentlemen boarded Mr. Darcy's private carriage, Mr. Bingley's still being tended to around the corner of the house by Longbourn's grooms so that Miss Bingley might have transportation home when she should wish.

As the carriage wheeled away, Jane and Elizabeth dutifully waved until it was out of sight. As they turned to join the family party inside, Jane cautioned Elizabeth about waiting so long to accept Mr. Darcy. The reprisal sounded much like an echo of the chastisement their mother would give Elizabeth when she learned that she had not accepted Mr. Darcy's proposal, but merely his addresses.

"I am confident Mr. Darcy and I need this time to forever put to rest our terrible first impressions of one another. That you and Mr. Bingley have come to an understanding with little trials is a blessing, but not my fate, I'm afraid.

"But, Lizzie, what if he should tire of your rejection and find another?" Jane asked, nervously, remembering quite keenly the man who wrote her poems at age fifteen, only to move on when she had considered herself much too young to accept any firm advances.

"Then he should be epically worse as a husband if his patience be that short! We are not lovers at first sight, and cannot hope to compete with a couple that manages such a magic."

Jane took Elizabeth's slightly biting comment in stride and just as they reached the door, the ever docile eldest Bennet sister fired back. "As I marry, I escape to Netherfield, but you, dear, will be Mama's only focus with Mr. Darcy to secure."

Elizabeth halted in her steps, realizing the very dire consequences of soon being the only daughter with serious marriage prospects. But she did not become disheartened for long, she decided Mary would just have to capture Mr. Collins for there to be any peace for her and Mr. Darcy.

Reaching the parlor, Elizabeth found Miss Bingley's proximity to Mr. Collins and Mary to be a very odd seating arrangement as the three of them appeared engrossed in a very quiet conversation. However, before Elizabeth could determine the subject of their discussions, Miss Bingley rose from her seat and announced she must not tarry as there were many preparations still to make for the ball.

"And with Charles needing to be in London so soon after the invitations were delivered, I am finding there is much placed on my shoulders that might have been lessened to a degree if my brother had waited until after his marriage." Caroline did not appear concerned that her statement not only criticized her brother also insulted Jane as the main purpose of the errand was in regard to their nuptials.

"We are always happy to lend a hand, Miss Bingley. All of my daughters and I would be delighted to assist in the decorations and plans for the meal. It has been a great number of years since our county has seen a home as illustrious as Netherfield opened for an evening of dancing." Mrs. Bennet practically salivated over the opportunity to plan a ball at the nicest house in the county. Recalling Jane's words of wisdom about who would next be her mother's main target of fussing and social responsibilities, Elizabeth wondered if her mother already realized that once Jane was married to Mr. Bingley, she would have Jane to apply her pressure for greater involvement in the social calendar of Netherfield Park.

"I should be appalled to burden your family with such a responsibility as you have one daughter engaged and as I'm to understand it, one so very nearly engaged." Miss Bingley announced Elizabeth's status as if the situation were not of her choosing. She glanced down at Mr. Collins, who had forgotten to rise when the ladies came into the room, and when Caroline now stood.

"While I have not declared my intentions formally, it is safe to say I believe my cousin Elizabeth would make a wonderful partner for any man, and I hope to be the luckiest man indeed, to win her hand." Mrs. Bennet nodded with each statement Mr. Collins made to the abject horror of Elizabeth.

"Mr. Collins, my sister has accepted the addresses of Mr. Darcy with permission from our father. I believe Miss Bingley was referring to my sister finding an alliance with Mr. Darcy." Jane offered her rather startling revelation in a gentle voice as both her mother and Mr. Collins had a most violent reaction. For her part, Miss Bingley merely scowled but Mrs. Bennet appeared to need smelling salts now knowing both her daughters were to marry very rich man. Mr. Collins stood up from his chair and began to berate the stunned Mrs. Bennet.

"You assured me, madam, that as the eldest was already spoken for the next eldest was not similarly engaged. I have been misled!"

Jane stepped forward to comfort their mother as Elizabeth glared at Miss Bingley who pretended to hold no guilt over her culpability for the explosive conversation she had instigated. "Miss Bingley, may I escort you to your carriage? I am sure you are most anxious to address the many needs of your brother's social calendar." Elizabeth stared at the younger Bingley until the woman had no choice but to comply and follow Elizabeth to the front door.

"He will never ask for you, you know. Your family cannot possibly hold a candle to the illustrious line Mr. Darcy counts as his ancestors. A country miss does not marry the grandson of an Earl."

"And a daughter of a tradesman does not even get invited to the same events, and yet you have wormed your way up. I suppose I should take that as hope for myself." Elizabeth scarcely curtsied as Miss Bingley offered the same dismissal and her carriage rolled to the front drive.

As Elizabeth returned to the parlor, Mary sat on the couch sulking while Jane and her mother were involved in a vibrant discussion over not only Jane's marriage plans, but also a barrage of questions over how Elizabeth could have possibly attracted the eye of a man such as Mr. Darcy.

"I thought she did not like him! He was quite rude at the assembly and barely said two words last night at dinner. Your father is such a cruel, cruel man to not tell me of an understanding between Mr. Darcy and our Lizzie." Mrs. Bennet fluttered her handkerchief for effect, before announcing she needed to go into Meryton and visit with her sister.

Elizabeth held up both hands to stop her mother charging towards the door of the parlor and attempted to be heard. "Mr. Darcy and I do not have an understanding, Mama. He has requested to pay suit, and so far I have accepted him, but I am not engaged."

"Oh you silly, silly girl. No lady accepts a man's suit without later accepting a proposal. And neither shall you. And to think, you almost married Mr. Collins!" Mrs. Bennet pushed past her daughter to go above stairs and prepare for a visit in the village.

Elizabeth groaned and closed her eyes at how utterly unpredictable the negotiations of courtship and engagement appeared to be for all parties involved. Opening her eyes and seeing poor Mary crumpled on the corner of the sofa, looking defiantly straight ahead and ignoring the silent tears falling down her cheeks, Elizabeth felt awful. She took a seat next to Mary and tried to console her sister. "Where did Mr. Collins go?" Elizabeth asked.

"When you took Miss Bingley outside, he stormed to the back and declared he needed to walk. He is very angry and feels led on."

Elizabeth smoothed her skirts and shrugged her shoulders. "While I could see how he is disappointed to learn Mama is not the final authority on who we might marry, I should think he could not be so surprised I am not the Bennet sister for him as I've done nothing to encourage his suit."

Mary glowered at her older sister and clenched her fists as she raised her voice in anger. "But you have! You can never just be quiet, you must always tell the gentleman your opinion as you smile and laugh. I have attempted to imitate you, and it's exhausting the amount of energy one must spend to flirt with the men around them. And it was all for naught, because he never saw me, he only saw you." Mary stormed from the room to go upstairs leaving Elizabeth in a state of utter shock. From Elizabeth's perspective, she had done everything she could to promote the union between Mary and Mr. Collins, and now Mary blamed her for Mr. Collins being too much of a simpleton to identify the appropriate Bennet daughter for his needs!

Slightly anxious, Elizabeth looked to her sister Jane for a camaraderie the two of them once held very strongly between them, but had become rather cracked and loosened by their respective attachments to the gentlemen of Netherfield.

"I do not understand Mary's outrage," Elizabeth huffed.

"You are very forward, at times, which can make those of us who struggle to speak to others more intimidated then we might feel…"

"Then if I had never been in the room at all?"

Jane shook her head and offered Elizabeth eyes full of worry and regret. "No, no, nothing to that effect. It is just sometimes, you know yourself so well, Lizzie, it can make those of us who do not, see too easily her own shortcomings."

Elizabeth swallowed the pain and confusion assailing her senses as it appeared she could make no one happy and everyone around her miserable. She could not take a walk, for she had no desire to meet Mr. Collins wherever he might be. And neither did she wish to join her mother on a tour of the social matrons of Meryton, not even to express she was not engaged to Mr. Darcy no matter her mother's thoughts of the situation. As Jane announced she would attend the drawing rooms and parlors with Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth agreed it would be a very great kindness for her to do.

After Elizabeth assisted Jane with a refreshing of her hair style and a change in attire, she selfishly decided to lay down on their shared bed and pulled a thin book from the night table. Flipping to a favorite page, one that now held new meaning, Elizabeth mouthed the words as she traced them with her finger the declarations of love in Shakespeare's sonnet number 40.

Hang in there, more to come!


	36. Chapter 36

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone that is following along and participating. XOXOXO

 _November 26, 1811, the night of the Netherfield Ball_

Elizabeth Bennet lived in a battlefield of sensitivities for three days leading up to the ball at Netherfield. Even though the evening was meant to be all for Jane, her mother had insisted Elizabeth have a new gown, new slippers, and a new spencer for the evening. This caused Kitty and Lydia exceeding jealousy as no amount of whining or crying could convince their mother to spend excessively on them.

"But we've tried and tried! And all of the officers are most keen for our company." Lydia whined at breakfast, attempting once more to gain permission to shop on the very day of the ball.

"You have spent an excessive amount of time flirting and fanning over the red coats in town. I have spied the two of you, many times, carrying on exceedingly animated conversations with no less than three or four men around you." Mr. Collins reported to the table at large. For the last three days, he had a rare sight at Longbourn and had taken it upon himself to meet the remaining citizens of Meryton. Charlotte Lucas had warned Elizabeth that her father, Sir William Lucas, a former mayor of Meryton, had taken a great liking to the parson from Kent, inviting him two nights in a row for dinner.

"And why should not the girls speak to the officers, Mr. Collins? They are cheerful young ladies with an ability to lift the spirits of our soldiers who are serving the greater good." Mrs. Bennet went on to add it was a mighty convenience the clergy were not required to serve the country, producing a mild embarrassed blush from Mr. Collins as he sat between Mary and Elizabeth at the table.

A servant walked in with what appeared to be two letters from Netherfield. Both were delivered to Mr. Bennet at the head of the table and he handed Jane's letter to her, straight away. Elizabeth's he opened and read the contents silently right there at the table.

"Papa!" Elizabeth cried.

"Mr. Darcy writes to you, Lizzie, but as you are not yet engaged, I'm afraid I must see the contents of the letter before you might read it. It may not be suitable for a young lady."

As Mr. Collins began to agree with his cousin Bennet about the merits of filtering all content available to young ladies, including novels, Mr. Bennet interrupted the man with a rare shout.

"Confound it man! Whatever were you thinking to take it upon yourself to invite someone to another man's home?" Mr. Bennet's full strength intimidated many at the table as they had never seen the mostly indolent, well-read man as anything but harmlessly sarcastic.

"I-I-I listened to the request of Miss Bingley. She suggested I should write to my patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, straight away and she even paid for the express."

Elizabeth groaned as she accepted the letter from her father, who handed it over without delay. "May I be excused?"

"Yes, you may." Mr. Bennet remained glowering at Mr. Collins.

While Elizabeth wished to see the set down about to fall upon the table, she more adamantly desired to read a letter from Mr. Darcy in private. Jane followed her with her own letter, and the two went to their bedroom.

"Mr. Bingley writes that Mr. Darcy's aunt is very disagreeable, and has put Caroline to tears! She is angry about Mr. Darcy's match with you." Jane prepared her sister for the contents of her own letter as she had read hers while their father read Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth shuddered. So he really was engaged to his cousin after all! She had been correct and stupid to listen to the games and tricks he employed on her father. She set her letter aside, not reading it.

"Lizzie, you must read it. Mr. Darcy sent it to you!" Jane picked up the letter, but Elizabeth refused, laying on their bed and rolling over to her side. Jane could hear Elizabeth beginning to cry and decided to take matters into her own hands. She unfolded the letter and used a false, baritone voice, to mimic what she thought Mr. Darcy sounded like.

 _My Dearest Elizabeth,_

 _We are safely returned from London, all papers in hand, but I am afraid to say I will not be able to visit Longbourn this afternoon before the ball as I had planned. My aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, has descended upon Bingley's house, informed of our courtship it would appear by her parson, your cousin._

Elizabeth rolled over and began to argue with Jane, as if she were the real Mr. Darcy and not an imitation.

"My cousin! What about Bingley's sister!"

Jane shook her head and handed the letter to Elizabeth. "You need to know where you stand, it gets better at the end."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and took the letter, quickly finding where Jane left off.

 _Before you think the worst, please know I have never been engaged to my cousin, Anne de Bourgh. Never. When my mother died shortly after the birth of Georgiana, my aunt began to make claims it was my mother's greatest desire to unite the two families. But she was incorrect. My father made it clear my mother only wished for me to marry well—to marry a woman who made me happy and who would be a good mistress of Pemberley. My cousin is neither of those things, though she is a very sweet woman. She is sickly and has no desire to marry at all._

 _I am apologizing in advance for the insults and rudeness my Aunt Catherine will undoubtedly cast against you, your family, and everyone else this evening. I have not been successful in persuading her to leave, and I dare not risk coming to Longbourn and having her follow. This evening is to be Bingley's and Miss Bennet's triumph, and my relations are set upon ruining it._

 _I am most anxious to see you again, Elizabeth, to hear your voice even if it is to yell and point out my faults. Hearing my aunt decimate Bingley's sister gave me great pause to reflect on the behaviors in me you find so abhorrent. I confess I felt pity for Miss Bingley at times during my aunt's set down._

 _This evening I wish nothing more than to dance two sets with you and hope you will be so kind as to dance the first with me?_

 _Your Obedient Servant,_

 _Fitzwilliam Alistair Marcus Darcy_

Elizabeth blinked back tears to read how cruel the universe appeared to be in teaching Mr. Darcy a painful lesson. She began to realize now that just as she was a reflection of mostly her father, but at times vexed by behaviors similar to her mother's nerve, Mr. Darcy, being orphaned in his early adulthood, might have similar influences as to his personality. What was society but its follies and foibles? And she was not without fault, as he had pointed out to her the day she fell at Netherfield.

"Oh Jane, poor Mr. Darcy!" Elizabeth wallowed in the emotions of care and worry that were new additions to her complex understanding of Mr. Darcy in her heart.

Jane hugged her sister and smiled, laughing to see Elizabeth so upset and moved by Mr. Darcy's plight. "See? You do love him, and the two of you will have a long and happy life together, just like me and Charles!"

"But, oh no, his aunt! She despises my status and thinks I am not good enough to marry him! What if the rest of his family feels the same way?" Elizabeth began to panic, finally asking Jane what she would do.

Jane winked at her younger sister. "Marry him anyway, that is what I am doing. I am not an idiot where it comes to the prejudices of Louisa and Caroline. But I make Charles happy, and he makes me doubly so. A marriage is never done without the ruffling a few family feathers. Remember how much Grandma Bennet disliked Mama?"

Elizabeth furrowed her brows, trying to remember what Jane was referencing, but she was only six when their grandmother died and Jane was eight.

"I suppose so. But I am so . . ." Elizabeth struggled to find the words to explain that one thousand flutters and heartaches plagued her system all at once. But Jane nodded in understanding.

"It feels so dangerous, and then when you see him, or hear his voice, the danger becomes exhilarating. We will make you the beauty of the ball and his aunt will HAVE to accept you."

"And if she does not?" Elizabeth genuinely worried for the first time she might lose Mr. Darcy's regard, and it was not an outcome she could accept.

"Then we shall introduce her to Sir Lucas and Mrs. Long and she shall never get another word out!"

Elizabeth laughed at her sister's plan, feeling with dread that Lady Catherine de Bourgh sounded like a bully of a degree they had never encountered. If Mr. Darcy was not able to manage his aunt, how on earth were two Bennets supposed to meet the challenge?

*****  
That COLLINS! Who's ready to attend the ball?


	37. Chapter 37

We're almost done . . . the suspense! The suspense!

 _November 26, 1811, the Netherfield Ball_

Delayed by what seemed to be concerted efforts on the part of Kitty and Lydia to make the entire family late, the Bennets and Mr. Collins did not arrive at the Netherfield Ball until they were nearly forming the end of the receiving line. The Hursts joined Mr. and Miss Bingley in welcoming the surrounding countryside to the family's first major social event at the leased estate. For some families, it was still a novelty to meet and greet the Netherfield residents, but for the Bennet family the friendships and rivalries were already quite firm.

"My, that is a lovely gown Miss Eliza. The neckline was a favorite of mine two seasons ago, wasn't it, Louisa?" Miss Bingley wasted not a moment before engaging in open hostilities with Elizabeth. Unfortunately for Caroline, Elizabeth Bennet already knew the best way to get under Miss Bingley's skin. She simply had to be nice.

"Thank you, Miss Bingley, Mrs. Hurst. I fear the latest fashions do not always satisfy my tastes. But were I called upon to perform for London society, I should be content to wear the unflattering waistlines and cuts you must endure. Now that you live in the countryside, you can follow my example and wear only the pieces you find absolutely divine." Elizabeth Bennet forced a bubbly demeanor during her brief conversation with the Bingley sisters, finding it fiercely difficult to keep her anxiety at the idea of being introduced to Mr. Darcy's aunt.

The ballroom was draped in the rich colors of autumn as gold and brick red buntings were fixed to every surface in the room. It appeared every chair, settee, and sofa of the downstairs floors lined the walls of the enormous room, and the musicians had begun to warm up by the time Elizabeth stepped into the crowded room. Despite the din, Mr. Darcy spotted Elizabeth in her delicately trimmed white lace dress, finding her understated beauty the perfect match for the teardrop pearl accents in her hair.

"Is that her? I can see Mr. Collins in the doorway there, is that woman the shrew who has her clutches upon you, Fitzwillam?" An elderly lady hunched over and possessing rings of fat making up her shoulders, thick neck, and double chin, stood next to Fitzwilliam Darcy in nothing short of nearly full court dress, complete with a tiara in her hair. As Elizabeth zeroed in on Mr. Darcy's handsome, tall frame, she spied the squat, overdressed woman next to him covered head to toe in gold and deep burgundy brocade, and giggled. In her mind's eye, Lady Catherine de Bourgh could be no other than the woman possessing quivering jowls and pointing in her direction with a finger shaking about in a manner most unbecoming to one of her station.

Feeling mischievous, Elizabeth did not wait for Mr. Darcy to approach. Instead, the young woman put one slippered foot in front of the other and effortlessly cut through the crowds anxiously awaiting the start of the first set. To Darcy, he finally understood Bingley for calling Jane Bennet an angel. From his position nothing less than one of the highest choir was gliding toward him with the enigmatic smile he cherished in his dreams.

As soon as Elizabeth reached Mr. Darcy, she dipped into a deep curtsy, and rose anticipating an introduction. But Mr. Darcy's behavior took an unexpected turn. Grasping Miss Elizabeth's hand, he bent over it and kissed the top.

"May I have the honor of the first set, my dear?"

Elizabeth held her breath as her eyes flitted from Mr. Darcy to his aunt and then back to him, catching a slight wink from the man. Trusting him and playing along, she accepted the set and laughed heartily once they were a few steps from his aunt. As Lady Catherine began to shout Fitzwilliam's name, he led Elizabeth away entirely refusing to make the introduction of the grand lady to his intended.

"Before you mistakenly decide I find you beneath introduction to my aunt, I wish to assure you it is quite the opposite. She has not proven herself worthy of meeting you, my dear Elizabeth."

Mr. Darcy's romantic sentiments were for Elizabeth's ears only as he led her to take their places next to Jane and Mr. Bingley. The strained and struggled first note smoothly glided into a familiar tune for a lively reel. Elizabeth and Darcy danced to the first steps with Jane and Bingley before they took the turn. Gaily dancing, Elizabeth Bennet felt a joy previously unknown in the laughter and smiles of her sister and the two friends to whom their hearts belonged. After the first set, Elizabeth and Jane exchanged partners so the foursome might remain on the dance floor without interruption. Elizabeth made pleasant conversation with Mr. Bingley, offering her sympathy for the unwelcome visit by a family member.

"Darcy's aunt has been a surprise, but I shall always take comfort in the fact that she is not my aunt." Mr. Bingley laughed at his jest before stopping when he realized before too long, Elizabeth would not be able to say the same.

"Do not fear my offense, sir. I am convinced there is something in the Kent waters which causes the residents to be utterly unbearable should they travel outside their home county."

Mr. Bingley appeared confused with Elizabeth's proclamation, until he remembered her own cousin was the parson of Lady Catherine and therefore a resident of Kent. Suddenly her jest appeared to be much more comical than his own, and Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth finished the set with a jolly laugh that raised the spirits of those observing. To the local gentry, the perfect coupling of the two eldest Bennet sisters to the London visitors at Netherfield satisfied a romantic sentimentalism that rippled through the gossip mongering tongues of Meryton's elite.

Elizabeth danced the third set with John Lucas, Charlotte Lucas's eldest brother, while Charlotte danced next to them with Mr. Collins. She appreciated that her cousin fulfilled his promise of the first two sets with Mary, but found Charlotte dancing with Mr. Collins rather odd. She wished her friend a happy time as any at the ball, but it was not Charlotte's nature to stand up with gentlemen she was not so very familiar with. Most annoyingly, Mr. Collins attempted to talk to Elizabeth the entire time and chastise her for wanton behavior with Mr. Darcy.

"He is engaged to another!" Mr. Collins' proclamations began to turn the heads of not just the Lucas' siblings, but also another couple next to them in line.

"Mr. Collins, this is none of your concern." Elizabeth smiled at John. "How did your family fare with the deluge of rain we lately had? Have you made any new carvings?" Elizabeth took a turn with Charlotte ending in line with her cousin again for the second part of the step.

"You are making a mockery of the family. Lady Catherine is an illustrious and titled person, her word is more than sufficient to ruin the good name of Bennet. You must desist in your charms and allurements."

Elizabeth could not respond before the dance readjusted the pairs back to their original partners.

"I have crafted a vine on the miniature house you last saw when you visited Charlotte." John Lucas happily discussed his carvings with an interested party as his father considered his talent a waste of time.

"Oh, a charming addition!" Elizabeth started to feel the effects of dancing three sets in a row, developing a desperate thirst for punch. During her last spin, she caught Mr. Darcy sitting the set out, watching her with John, but then noticed he was approaching her sister, Mary, who was also sitting out the third set. Now paired with an officer who was partnered with Lydia for the second step of the dance, as Charlotte and Collins were thankfully heading back down the line, she could not recall the poor man's greeting as she craned her neck to find her Mr. Darcy asking Mary to dance.

"Miss Elizabeth?" the officer asked again as Elizabeth realized she had spun the wrong way and created a momentary confusion for the partners.

"Silly me," she jumped to her correct position on the ladies' side of the line and waited as Lydia and John Lucas performed, clapping her hands in time with the beat.

When the set ended, John Lucas kindly led her off the dance floor and asked Miss Bingley to dance. She could not decline without the consequence of sitting out the entire rest of the evening. Having not danced with Mr. Darcy yet, that was not a move Caroline would make, but she did lead John Lucas to stand next to Mary and Mr. Darcy in the line for the fourth set.

"Cousin Elizabeth, I believe you owe me a dance." Mr. Collins suddenly appeared, covered in perspiration from the effort of dancing the first three sets.

"Mayhap we stand up for the fifth set? I so desperately need a rest." Elizabeth began to walk away from her cousin who to her surprise, grabbed her upper arm to halt her progress, ripping the sleeve of her gown in the process. Elizabeth gawked at the damage, swiftly covering the torn sleeve with one hand. Mr. Collins stood there, smug and apparently pleased with himself.

"How dreadful, I suppose you shall not be able to dance again this evening. Your gown is ripped. You should take more care, those are such delicate garments."

Elizabeth's anger flared, but she took a calming breath. Marching over to the table of refreshments, she accepted a glass from a happy Mrs. Pilkington who found it peculiar Elizabeth was holding the sleeve of her gown. Following Elizabeth to see if she needed assistance, she had a clear place to witness Elizabeth Bennet, long known as the feisty Bennet daughter, tip her full glass of punch purposely upon her cousin!

When Mr. Collins shouted as a child from the shock of Elizabeth's actions, the dancing ceased and more than just Mrs. Pilkington's attentions were on the dueling cousins. Elizabeth apologized and handed Mrs. Pilkington the cup before turning around and storming from of the ballroom.

"Shocking! I told you the woman was wild and beneath your notice, Mr. Darcy." Caroline Bingley antagonized the man who had only seen Elizabeth dump punch on her oaf of a cousin. But where Caroline suspected Elizabeth acted unprovoked, Darcy knew from personal experience something very grievous had to have happened for Elizabeth to retaliate in such a manner. Apologizing to Mary, Darcy attempted to move through the throngs surrounding Mr. Collins, trying to find what happened as they pretended to offer him aid.

"She is unstable! I have witnessed her moods many a time in my visit at Longbourn, from utterly content to violent with rage. Why, she poured that punch on me without provocation! She is unstable, I tell you."

Few bobbed their heads in agreement, but Mr. Collins's assertions flew in the face of experience for the guests who had known Elizabeth Bennet her entire life, or theirs. Darcy did not stop to address the nonsense Collins spouted for fear he might do the man a violence far worse if he continued to speak against Elizabeth.

Exiting the ballroom, Mr. Darcy found Mr. Bennet was already attempting to calm Elizabeth.

"But Papa, he ripped my gown! On purpose! All because I asked to sit a set out and would dance the fifth with him!"

"Think, Lizzie. He did not truly intend for you to dance with him at all." Mr. Bennet hated to see his daughter defeated and in tears over any man, least of all his pompous ass of a cousin. Mr. Darcy arrived at Elizabeth's side and took her hand gently in his own.

"Your father is right. My aunt more than likely has a hand in this assault. I am only sorry it was my family that pained you."

"Your family? He is MY cousin. And he did not mention your aunt. Only announced loudly during my set with John Lucas you were engaged to another and that her word was enough to ruin me."

Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy exchanged looks and nodded. The plump, Mrs. Pilkington poked her head into their small grouping.

"Come, my dear, this tiny tear?" She pulled a small kit from her bag and Elizabeth began to cry fresh tears in appreciation. Darcy looked around and realized soon his friend's guests who witnessed the 'punching' might wander out into the main hallway to find Elizabeth.

"Perhaps the library would be a more private place to repair your sleeve? And I will return to the ballroom and see to Collins—"

"Perhaps you should go to the library, eh?" Mr. Bennet was so bold as to direct Mr. Darcy to follow Mrs. Pilkington and Elizabeth. "The ballroom has suffered enough violence this night. Calm your heels son and reassure my daughter. When she realizes how poorly she behaved, she will begin feeling guilty and upset anew."

Mr. Darcy argued with Mr. Bennet who merely crossed his arms and waited for the young man to finish his tirade.

"And a man of your caliber need not beat a member of the clergy. Go! I shall handle my cousin."

Darcy relented when he reflected that the arrangement meant he would be alone with Elizabeth. He opened the library door to see Mrs. Pilkington well into stitching the sleeve back into its proper place on Elizabeth's gown.

"Oh, Fitzwilliam, I was awful!" Elizabeth covered her face with her free hand. Darcy, on the other hand, was delighted that for once she spoke his given name and she was not angry with him.

"No, Collins was awful. I wanted to go back to the ballroom and make him answer for his transgression but your father advised me to come here." Mr. Darcy's delight took a lower priority to his remembered anger and then feebleness for listening to Mr. Bennet's advice. If he had only known why Elizabeth threw the punch in the first place, he would have trounced that toad of a man before leaving the ballroom to find her.

"There you are! I see she has convinced you to privately take her services even with a house full of people." Lady Catherine de Bourgh stood in the doorway of the library, ablaze in fury just as Mrs. Pilkington finished snipping the thread.

"Please. Fetch my father," Elizabeth whispered. Mrs. Pilkington nodded and dashed out of the library around Lady Catherine's person. The grand woman did not notice a shopkeeper's wife scurrying out of a room like an errant servant, keeping her gaze firmly on Elizabeth standing very close to her nephew.

"You are a crafty one, Elizabeth Bennet. I shall warrant you that. I have heard all about how you have wrapped my nephew around your little finger, confusing him as to what he needs in life."

"Aunt Catherine, your opinions are not welcome here. I have told you I was never engaged to Anne, and she does not wish to marry me."

"Was I speaking to you, Fitzwilliam? No. And I believe Elizabeth Bennet would like to hear my opinions, before she takes on the task of ruining your life, nephew." Lady Catherine moved closer to Elizabeth who bravely held her tongue to keep herself from losing her emotions once more.

"See? A little ballroom mishap and you are weak. Quivering over a small tear in a gown. The ballrooms of London are the most vicious, most dangerous. The full power of Parliament, powers that can make or break the Darcy and Fitzwilliam family fortunes and one misstep, one tantrum, can ruin the lives of many. You are not ready to take on such an exalted position. You are a simple, country girl who will embarrass my nephew at your earliest opportunity."

"No, she cannot embarrass me. That parson was put up to his outrageous claims and you are the instigator. I know he could not have such an original thought as that disgusting display of parlor tricks. A ripped sleeve was your favorite ploy against my mother when she received too much attention and you not enough."

"Hush, boy, you know nothing. This is not about ripped sleeves. This is about substance. This is about progeny. Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted by this pitiful girl? She cannot rise to the task and she knows it. And I am willing to wager she loves you enough to avoid through such rejection and fall from grace. And this family? The youngest ignores church on a weekly basis and the second one closest in age was caught alone with an officer!"

"No, she was not. That is a lie!" Elizabeth grew defensive as the insulting woman attacked her family.

"I suppose your mother's effusions about another of her daughters to be matched with a Denny something or other person was false? Add a lying mother to the list of wonderful examples the Bennet family might boast."

"Careful, madam, you speak of my wife in that viper's tongue of yours." Mr. Bennet arrived and Elizabeth suddenly felt relieved, rushing to her father's side for comfort. Mr. Bennet cradled his favorite daughter and squeezed her arm. "Mr. Collins shall pack his things come morning and remove himself from our household. It was inexcusable for him to harm the person of one of my daughters."

"Papa, I wish to go home."

"Yes, run away Elizabeth Bennet. A delicate rose such as yourself will never survive the thorns of London. Before you can call for a father's protection, your petals will all be plucked, leaving your true self bare and found lacking."

"You are a cruel old woman who will die alone and unloved." Elizabeth finally allowed her temper free as her father ushered her from of the library and toward the carriage he already called, anticipating Elizabeth would not be able to return to the ballroom without causing an even greater scene. Despite wishing to congratulate her for defending her own honor, the realities of her display were not removed, and the ball was for Jane. He could not sacrifice one daughter for another's perceived misdeeds.

Elizabeth remained quiet as she allowed her father to the carriage that would take her home and return to Netherfield Park later for the remainder of her family. To her surprise, Mary was waiting in the carriage.

"You are leaving the ball as well? But I thought—" Elizabeth was interrupted by Mary pulling her into a tight embrace.

"He bragged about ruining your gown! That man is evil and should not be a servant of our Lord. When I heard father was calling you a carriage, I asked him if I might accompany you."

Elizabeth began to cry as she relived the horrid scene that utterly ruined her perfectly planned evening. But for her sister Mary to support her once more, Elizabeth was eternally grateful.

"Thank you, Mary. You are the very best."

As Mr. Bennet watched the carriage roll away, Mr. Darcy called after him.

"Please, my aunt, I cannot excuse her behavior. But she is wrong. Elizabeth will make me a fine wife. I must speak to her!"

While Mr. Bennet appreciated the desperate young man's position, there was nothing he could do. "Son, you are not in a position to say anything she will want to hear after tonight's events, and if you push the issue, even should she accept you, it will not be a pleasant memory for either of you."

"You do not understand! She must hate me, I did nothing! I barely spoke against my aunt before you arrived though I did attempt to stop her."

Mr. Bennet laughed. "Mr. Darcy, you may not be accustomed to hearing this expressed in such a blunt fashion, but the world does not rest upon your shoulders. Trust my years of extensive dealings with women. You allow them their say, their sulk, and then you reason with them. Consider the modes of control you wield against your aunt and deploy them. Then worry about how you will convince Elizabeth to disagree with your aunt's sentiments. Now, excuse me as I have three other daughters I must see to." Mr. Bennet patted Mr. Darcy's upper arm in solidarity, but left the man to his thoughts.

As the Bennet carriage could scarcely be seen far off in the distance under the moonlight, Fitzwilliam Darcy reflected on Mr. Bennet's words and once again found the man to be more of a deliberate actor than a lazy misanthrope. Glancing up at the moon's brightness, he sighed as his heart ached to be with Elizabeth. But as he decided he would return to the ball he was so loath to participate in for Bingley's sake, his aunt would soon find she forgot her nephew held the ability to freeze her accounts when she appointed him, the executor of the Rosings estate.

******

Yep, Lady Catherine is about to be SHUT OFF. :) Here we go, thrilling conclusion around the corner!


	38. Chapter 38

November 27, 1811

Having returned early from the ball, Elizabeth enjoyed more rest than the majority of her family. She rose early as was her custom and dressed for a walk. The toll of so many tears the night before made her eyes sting. She washed her face with the cold water in the basin and pulled her hair up into a tight knot.

The stairs creaked under her weight as she entered the dining room to find Mr. Collins there, alone. Slanting her eyes at the man, she stopped short of her goal of the back kitchen to leave as he stood too close to the far door.

"You have awakened. Good, good. I had hoped to make my address to you in private."

Elizabeth crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"There are no addresses you may make that I shall accept. You are to pack your things and leave my father's house. He said so, himself."

"It is my house as soon as he dies. Or did you forget I am to inherit all that you have believed yours?"

Elizabeth blinked and pursed her lips. It was a despicable vulgarity to wish death upon another for your own inheritance. Mary was not wrong to call Mr. Collins greedy, and Elizabeth began to wish for an even worse word. Glutton came to mind.

"You do not forget I see. So you can appreciate why I am offering you one last chance. Stop this chasing of a man far beyond your stars and consider my hand in marriage. You would be mistress of your childhood home and our sons would grow and thrive on the very same fields you run to for sanctuary every morning."

A wave of nausea clenched Elizabeth's empty stomach over the mere mention of bearing Mr. Collins's children.

"I cannot stand the sight of you. And I shall never marry you, either. Nor will any of my sisters after the display of bullying you put on last night." Elizabeth began to wonder if she should shout for her father, but knew the man did not get much sleep at all last night judging by the late hour in which Elizabeth awakened from the rest of the family returning home.

"And should your father die today, I can throw you out, tomorrow."

"Is that a threat?" Elizabeth began to wonder what villain the mere chance of relation allowed into their household.

"Of course not! But you must see reason. The Bingley fellow will not save the family and Mr. Darcy is never going to offer for you. Certainly not after last night." Mr. Collins appeared so sure of himself, so confident, that Elizabeth began to find the man absurd! And absurd people made her laugh.

"Mr. Collins, that you happen to be my cousin through a distant relation on my father's side means nothing to me. I would more confidently trust in Mr. Bingley's care for our well being should we lose my father. Even if one of my sisters had accepted your suit, you are not guaranteed to this living. Why, you might shuffle off this mortal coil today as you move your things to Lucas Lodge."

"Is that a threat?" Mr. Collins's eyes opened wide, suddenly becoming rather unsettled by the flat tone of his cousin.

"Only you ought to watch your behavior regarding my friend, Charlotte. Her brothers John and Edward would sooner thrash you than ever allow any man to disrespect their sister."

Mr. Collins nodded sagely as he remembered the much larger physique of Miss Lucas's brothers.

Elizabeth could no longer endure the worthless man in front of her and still felt he suffered no consequence for his actions the night before. No longer caring about sneaking a carelessly placed pastry by Cook on her way out, Elizabeth turned around and sought escape through the front door. Her cousin called after her, but Elizabeth needed air. She needed space. And she needed Mr. Darcy, but would settle for acquiring those needs that were within her grasp.

As the morning dew remained sparkling on the brown grass in a glittering contrast to Nature's fading all around her, Elizabeth blew out a breath and watched the puff appear and dissipate before her. Dressed warmly for the weather, Elizabeth broke out into a run as soon as she reached the bend in the lane and headed for her favorite place in all the world.

The sun's morning performance was nearly completed as most of its girth lay above the horizon when Elizabeth's final footsteps took her to the pinnacle of Oakham Mount. Instead of her favorite rock awaiting her return for calm reflection, another's slumped form sat with his back to her.

Approaching carefully, Elizabeth smiled at the slumbering form of Mr. Darcy, leaning his head against his hands, resting upon his knees. Giggling, she gently jostled him awake and the poor man called out her name.

"Elizabeth!"

"Tis all right, I am here."

Darcy alighted from the rock and smoothed his hands upon the same breeches he had worn at the ball the night before. Elizabeth noticed his cravat was askew and a small growth of stubble had formed on his chin to impart a ruggedness of his masculinity she had heretofore never seen in a man of her acquaintance. A man she thought of often and deliberately.

Catching her spying his unkempt appearance, Darcy looked down at his own clothing feeling mightily embarrassed he did not listen to Arnold before bursting out of the house at first signs of dawn.

"I should have changed."

"Have you been up all night?"

Darcy nodded. "I had to, I had to see you. The words my aunt said, they were wrong and never deserved a moment's consideration. Please know, surely by now, I love . . ."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and Darcy paused.

"Your aunt's words do warrant a moment's consideration by us, if you please, sir. Before you express the romantic sentiments I am certain exist between us, we must be practical. What if I am an embarrassment to you? My family?"

Darcy took a step forward and gently touched her cheek with a crooked finger, finding his attentions made her shiver and him feel more powerful than an entire company of soldiers.

"I long warred with myself over your family's connections and status, long before I ever captured your queen. And the conclusion I came to, and still arrive at, is love will overcome. The bombastic aunts, the silly sisters, which I may add I have one in my possession as well, all of it. We shall overcome. Because you, my darling, are the first thought in my heart and mind when I awake and the last thought before I slip from the day's consciousness at night."

Elizabeth blinked and nodded. She wanted to tell him that she, too, could find herself thinking about little other than him, but worried he would find her admissions brazen. Remembering he had not formally offered his hand, she worked back at the practicality side of their problems.

"And what if I should be offended in London? Abused like I was this evening? I am not one for docile damsel is despair." She arched her eyebrow to lighten up the mood surrounding her demand for an answer.

Mr. Darcy collected her hands and held them cupped in his own. "Then I shall hand you the cup of punch or anything else you wish to throw at them!"

Elizabeth giggled and Mr. Darcy joined in her laughter, the stresses of the previous evening finally beginning their journey to outrageous, but fond, memory in both of their lives.

"You must be exhausted." She clucked her tongue at the dark circles forming under his eyes, but Mr. Darcy used his grasp on her hands to pull her closer.

"I beg of you, allow me to get this right." He searched her eyes for the silent acceptance of his statement they both knew held more than one meaning. His muscles tight and rigid from a lack of sleep and prolonged sitting upon a rock, Mr. Darcy jaggedly lowered himself to one knee. Without realizing, Elizabeth Bennet sucked in her breath.

"Elizabeth, you are an angel, goddess of wisdom and the beauty of Aphrodite combined into a woman of the highest accomplishments that I need by my side. I am desperately lost without you, I know this too well, and I fear even one more day without your acceptance. Please, my darling, allow me to care for you, to love you, and listen with all my might when you are cross with me. Will you consent to becoming my wife?"

The sun rose completely from the horizon's grasp and Elizabeth lost herself in the loving gaze of Fitzwilliam Darcy. If she had the words, she would have declared that she loved him so much, that part of her still wished to give him up if her love of him would at all negatively impact his life. But she worried attempting such a confession would result in one of their painful misunderstandings. So she chose her words well.

"I happily accept, Fitzwilliam, your offer and suspect my own fears of living another day without your proposal might have driven me mad." She smiled as he rose from the ground with a sudden burst of energy. The two of them swayed slightly in the early morning chill, him pressing his forehead against hers.

"Did you miss me while I was in London?"

"Every day. Too much."

"I hated every minute I was so far away, in a worse state than even a lovestruck poet!"

Elizabeth sighed. "I tried to embroider I was so desperate for distraction!"

Again their eyes locked and Elizabeth felt a growing need in her heart to somehow express the joy and elation filling every inch of body in a physical way, but lacked a plan as to what exactly she might do. She licked her lips and bit down on the bottom one lightly as she tried to come up with something.

"May I? May I kiss you?" he asked.

Instead of answering, Elizabeth tilted her chin and began to move her lips towards his own, but Darcy was too quick for her. He took her silence and slight movement toward him as consent to his hand gently cupping her cheek and pressing his lips against hers in a slow, passionate, kiss he had dreamed of doing over and over again in his mind.

The experience of his kiss instantly warmed Elizabeth's entire being, and she soon found herself pressing against his body, a natural reaction to his passion she had not had time to counteract with logic and teachings from a proper upbringing. He embraced her tighter, deepening the kiss, so desperate to make this moment live on forever.

Eventually, the happy couple broke apart from the kiss but remained entwined with their hands. Birds began to sing the arrival of the morning, but to Elizabeth, it was Nature's stamp of approval on a man she truly never dreamed to keep as her own.

"It appears I have captured my king."

"Forever. And as much as I should like to remain on this beautiful prospect, I believe we ought speak with your father as soon as we might this morning."

"Mmm," Elizabeth agreed as they began to walk hand in hand down the easier path of descent. "It is too bad we cannot join Jane and Bingley in their date next month."

"Oh, but we can. I applied for a special license while we were in London, tis why we took so much longer than the planned two days."

"A special license?"

Darcy nodded.

"Are you always this resourceful, Mr. Darcy?" Elizabeth teased as they reached the halfway point in the path down the hill.

"Nay. Only when my very life is hanging in the balance." Darcy paused their progress to see if she truly understood the amount of dedication he offered to her, utterly at the mercy of her love in return.

"Well then. I shall have to be very careful with you since you are my own heart." She smiled up at him through her eyelashes and found herself crushed in his arms and kissed once more in the privacy of the surrounding woods. Mr. Darcy kissed her breathless and remained holding onto her long after their lips parted and she settled her head against his chest.

"I shall make you happy, I promise. Forgive me my faults and love my good nature." Darcy's voice pleaded as he still held her against him, Elizabeth finding herself lost in the cadence of his heartbeat. Slowly, she raised her hand to his stubbly cheek and rubbed the prickly patch before smoothly pressing her palm against his face.

" _All mine was thine before thou hadst this more._ "

*************** A.N

My heart still goes pitter patter rereading that and I wrote it! LOL. Epilogue is next, for those who just HAD to know they did get married (and yes, I couldn't help myself, the book DOES stand alone, but should people LOVE this story and ever want me to write the whole Elizabeth Darcy in London Society as Mr. Darcy's betrothed, there's room for it between this chapter and the Epilogue . . . because that is, as they say, a whole nother story! :)


	39. Chapter 39

Epilogue

Summer, 1812

Despite a special license, and the exorbitant expense Mrs. Bennet extolled over and over, Elizabeth Bennet wed Fitzwilliam Darcy in the summer of 1812 after a lengthy engagement. The trials and tribulations of a full London season as Mr. Darcy's intended were behind them as Elizabeth walked down the aisle to her life's desire in St. George's Cathedral on the arm of her father.

Most of the church was full of the highest in London society, though there were a few notable absences, namely Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her closest friends that remained loyal of her disapproval to the very end.

Darcy's aunt had not given up her mission to end their alliance, even though Darcy had threatened to cut off her funding. In the end, Elizabeth would not agree to such a harsh punishment, though it was arranged that Darcy's cousin, Anne, would be joining them at Pemberley for a lengthy visit.

By far, the most amusing of Mr. Darcy's relations was a Colonel Fitzwilliam who had recently found an amusing affinity with Catherine Bennet who had found the last six months very maturing as she stepped up to support her sister Elizabeth in numerous social responsibilities.

The vows were no different than any other couple of the realm, but to those present in the church that morning, there was no denying the grand scale of the affair was only eclipsed by the visible love and care the bride and groom evoked as they patiently listened to the Archbishop of Canterbury pronounce them as husband and wife. To the catcalls of many, Mr. Darcy kissed his bride with no shame before they committed their names forever one in the book of records.

Among the most curious pieces of gossip to come out of the wedding breakfast was one that only those closest to the couple would ever understand. It was said that Mr. Darcy had ordered a chess board be added to every room of this townhouse and his estate, Pemberley. That bit of news in the write up for the grandest wedding of the season trickled down into a sudden resurgence in chess as a popular parlor game over the previously favored games of luck and chance.

And even decades later, when her children asked her or their father to recount their whirlwind romance, Elizabeth Darcy always began with one simple truth.

"I merely moved a pawn to capture Mr. Darcy."

********** 

Again, THANK YOU everyone! Anyone who had a review up BEFORE 4/29/2016 at 8 AM EST was personally called out and thanked in the back of the ebook that is now going live in all of the ebook stores. Looking forward to seeing any and all of you at the Launch party, and I really wish I could just give everyone a high five. WE DID IT! Together! :)

See you next week for the start of Jane and Hamilton's stand alone novella that's a part of my Seasons of Serendipity series.


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